


Mending Fences

by lisawolfe80



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-18 06:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 23,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7303615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lisawolfe80/pseuds/lisawolfe80
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A last-minute road-trip turns into an epic adventure. Inspired by a VMficrecs June Prompt.<br/>Post-series. Non movie-compliant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this for the Gate picture prompt for the VMficrecs prompts for June. It ended up a bit longer and I’m really trying to finish it by the end of the month, but decided to share out the first half now. There are actually references to two of the other prompts in it too. 3b. Could you survive in the wilderness for a month? And 6d. things you said that I wasn’t meant to hear. I put a link to the picture on AO3.
> 
> And thank you to everyone who left me reviews on my other June Prompt story (Pink Magic Mountain Majesty). I was blown away by all the wonderful comments. Thanks!!
> 
> As always, thanks to Bondopoulos for her wonderful beta skills! 
> 
> Disclaimer: All VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.

_**Inspired by this picture on VMFicRecs for June:** _

 

Veronica finished reading the confirmation text she’d just received and glanced around the table. Some days, this little gathering still seemed so bizarre to her. Wallace was on her left, intently focused on the open textbook in front of him. To his left sat Piz. He was rooming with Wallace again this year, despite the fact that he and Veronica had broken up shortly after the incident between Logan and Gory in the cafeteria. Even though she really didn’t want to condone violence, the entire ordeal with the leaked video and Piz’s reaction to that made her realize how different the two of them were and she decided to break things off sooner rather than later. They’d been able to part amicably, although she was certain he took it harder than he’d ever admit. Since he was living with Wallace again this year, their paths crossed quite a bit and while it wasn’t too awkward most of the time, there were still those occasions that she caught him looking at her in more of a longingly way than she was comfortable with. Due to that, she’d been really careful not to give him any mixed signals at all, and so far that seemed to be working.

On Veronica’s right sat Mac who Veronica had ended up rooming with this year. Parker had decided not to come back to Hearst at the last minute, and when Mac asked Veronica if she’d want to live in the dorms with her, she’d agreed. The strangest member of the quintet at the table sat on Mac’s right, currently lightly drumming a highlighter on the edge of the textbook he was reading. She watched as Mac reached over and grabbed the highlighter from his hand. Veronica thought maybe it was to silence the slightly annoying rhythmic tapping, but instead she used the pen to highlight something in her open book before handing it back to him without even looking up from what she was reading. Veronica still found it extremely odd how close the two of them had gotten over the summer, although she tried to rationalize that it wasn’t really that strange. Veronica had been away for her internship in Virginia almost all summer and Wallace was in Africa, so they weren’t around to be much support when Mac and Max’s relationship finally did end. She still wasn’t exactly sure how Mac had ended up spending most of the break hanging out with Logan though. Dick had been gone as well, spending time with his dad before his incarceration, so that left Logan a bit buddy-less as well, she supposed; but it still seemed like an unlikely combination to her. Veronica hadn’t felt like it was her place to pry, though, so she had acted cool and casual when Mac told her that she and Logan had a class together and wanted to be sure it was okay if they studied together sometimes.

Veronica wasn’t really sure how to define her own relationship with Logan these days. She’d certainly been concerned about his safety after the fight in the cafeteria. Even though she’d been angry with him right before that, she couldn’t just let him unknowingly be a target to someone who was part of a Russian mob family so she had taken measures to be sure he wouldn’t be in danger. She’d warned Logan to watch his back, but then she set up a bit of an insurance policy with Gory’s audio from the Castle tapes to be sure that Logan, or any of her other friends, would never be hurt by Gory or his associates. Mac was the only other one who knew about that, though, since Veronica had asked her to help with it.

After getting back from Virginia, she’d been around Logan quite a few times, mostly due to Mac, but they hadn’t really interacted one-on-one very much. She wasn’t sure if they were both just trying really hard to be friendly to each other, or if they really were still friends. Something still felt a bit off, though, but not enough for her to bring it up with him. She kept telling herself that she was being ridiculous and that given everything they’d been through, it was probably a miracle that they were able to be as comfortable as they were with each other. However, she still had this feeling that there was something wrong between them. There were certainly little things that made her think he still cared about her and was trying to be her friend, like grabbing a coffee and danish for her when they were both on campus for early morning classes. But then other times she couldn’t help but notice a distance that hadn’t been there before.  

She glanced down at her phone again before turning toward Wallace. “So, _buddy_ ,” she chirped with her hardest to resist smile. “Feel like going on a little road trip with me this weekend?”

Wallace quirked his eyebrow and gave her a suspicious look. “Um… while I’m sure that would be _great fun_ ,” he replied skeptically. “Darryl has a game this weekend that I promised him I’d be at since I missed the last one.”

Veronica gave him a disappointed huff as she turned toward Mac. “Macster?” she asked with a hopeful grin. “How about you?”

“Sorry, Vee,” Mac replied as she glanced up from her textbook. “My Grandma’s birthday is Saturday and I promised Mom I’d be there.”

“A road trip sounds fun,” Piz interjected sounding very upbeat. Veronica tried not to cringe, but of course immediately realized she shouldn’t have asked the other two in front of him. “I could probably get someone to take my shifts at the radio station.”   

“Oh…. um… I thought you had a guitar gig thingy this weekend?” Veronica replied, hoping she was right about that.

“Oh right,” Piz replied, although he still looked like he was contemplating whether to bail on his band’s gig to go with her.

“I could go,” Logan announced, causing all four heads to quickly turn toward him. He shrugged before he continued. “I don’t have anything planned for this weekend, so I could go along if you need someone.”

Apparently, based on everyone else’s reactions, no one had expected him to volunteer. Veronica certainly didn’t want to be trapped in a car with Piz for five to six hours in just one direction, and while it might be just as awkward going with Logan, she quickly decided she’d prefer that option over the Piz alternative.

“Okay,” she answered trying not to sound uncertain.

“I’ve got to get into the booth,” Piz said as he gathered up his things from the table. “Catch you all later,” he added before walking across the cafeteria toward the radio station entrance.

Veronica couldn’t help but feel like his sudden departure was partially her fault, but she hadn’t anticipated this turn of events at all. She avoided looking toward Wallace in case he had an annoyed expression on his face and decided instead that she should probably provide Logan with a bit more information before he felt obligated to go along. “I have to drive clear up near Oakhurst, which is about six hours away, so if you don’t feel like going, it’s fine. I can go alone.”

Logan shrugged and shook his head. “No problem. I really don’t have any plans.”

Veronica cocked her head and narrowed her eyes slightly. “Isn’t there a big Pi Sig party this weekend?”

“Yeah, but I don’t really want to go,” Logan answered without hesitation.

“Well… it’s just to serve some papers, which I don’t make a lot of money on… so I was probably just going to stop at a campground or get a cheap hotel Friday night… not exactly anything like the Grand Penthouse accommodations,” Veronica explained.

Logan gave her an amused smile. “I’m sure I’ll survive.”

“You can borrow some of my family’s camping stuff, if you need it,” Mac interjected as she glanced between Logan and Veronica with a look that Veronica interpreted as trying to be helpful. “I’ll just let my dad know to pull some gear out for you.”

“Perfect, I can stop by tomorrow afternoon and pick it up, if that works for him. Just let me know what time Sam wants me there,” Logan responded promptly to Mac with an appreciative smile.

Veronica was a bit taken aback hearing Logan call Mac’s dad by his first name. Yet again, just another little thing that made Veronica even more curious about just how close the two of them had gotten over the summer.

“What time did you want to leave?” Logan asked turning his attention back to Veronica.

“Um… I’ll be done with class at 10:30, does that work for you?” Veronica replied with a hint of uncertainty in her tone.

“Perfect, I only have one early class and it will be done at 9:30. I’ll just pick you up at your dorm then?”

“Okay… Yeah, sure,” Veronica replied, wondering what she’d just gotten herself into.

Veronica thought about asking Mac if she was okay with Logan joining her on this trip, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. That would imply way too many things that Veronica wasn’t sure she actually wanted out there. First, and the most problematic, being the perception that she may have suspected something was going on with Logan and Mac when she seriously doubted there was. She certainly didn’t want Mac to think she was turning into some jealous ex-girlfriend who obsessed over who her ex was hanging out with. Second being the fact that this road trip actually meant something more than just Veronica not having to drive six hours all by herself. She’d asked Mac and Wallace to join her on a couple of other shorter excursions, so it wasn’t an odd request to ask for company for an even longer drive. She told herself to stop agonizing over it because she was certainly making it into a bigger issue in her head than it likely was in real life.

Veronica had just snagged a table in the busy quad to eat her lunch before her next class started when a body moved into her peripheral vision and plopped down in the chair next to her. She glanced over and realized it was Logan.

“So, I was thinking I should make sure you wanted to take my SUV before I go and get all the camping gear loaded. We could take your Saturn, but my Range Rover would be roomier, but I’m open to whatever you’d prefer,” Logan started as he looked at her expectantly.

“Well, _hello_ to you too,” Veronica replied with a smirk, clearly highlighting the fact that he’d just launched into questions without even saying hello first.

“Oh... um... yeah… hey,” he stumbled out as he shook his head slightly. “Sorry… I was just thinking this morning about the trip, and that it would be easier to load the gear into which ever car we’re taking... we could transfer it all later… but I thought I’d check anyway.”

Veronica scrunched up her eyebrows slightly as she studied him. She still wasn’t exactly sure how serving papers had turned into a weekend camping trip with Logan, but if she didn’t know better, she thought he seemed really excited about it.     

“It’s just one night… how much gear do we need?” she asked, wondering yet again what she’d actually gotten herself into. “There’s still the option of just hitting a cheap hotel too… I never intended for it to turn into some elaborate camping trip.”

“When was the last time you’ve been camping, Veronica?” Logan asked with what she would label as an enthusiastic grin. “I'm sure it will be fun. We could even stay two nights and drive back on Sunday.”

Veronica shook her head and looked at him a bit in disbelief. “When was the last time _you’ve_ been camping, _Logan_?” she countered with a tinge of sarcasm as she repeated his question.

“A couple weeks before school started,” he replied with the energetic grin still on his face. “It was a lot of fun.”

Veronica reached over and placed the back of her hand on his forehead. “Are you delusional from a fever, or have you been the victim of body snatching?” she asked as she pulled her hand away and gave him a perplexed look.

Logan laughed and shook his head. “No… I um… I went camping several times this summer with Mac and her family. It was a lot of fun.”

“Oh,” Veronica replied, schooling her features so he wouldn’t notice her discomfort hearing that. “Too bad Mac couldn’t come along too, then,” she replied, not really sure what else to say.

“Nah… she doesn’t really like it that much,” Logan replied with a thoughtful look on his face. “I don’t know why though. I thought it was fun and the rest of her family seems to really enjoy it too. She actually didn’t join us on the last trip. Sam suggested a guys only trip, so it was just him, Ryan and me. Sooo… your car or mine?” he asked, circling back to his original question and apparently not noticing the odd look Veronica was now giving him.

“Um… if you don’t mind putting the extra miles on yours… that works for me.”

“Great… did you want to pick up food together, or I could get it for us,” he asked next.

“I’m sure there will be some restaurants along the way… I really didn’t expect this to turn into a full-blown camping trip, Logan,” she replied as she looked at him curiously. “It’s not like we need to survive in the wilderness for a month or something. We’re just headed out toward Oakhurst...”

“Sorry,” he replied looking a little disappointed. “I guess I did get a little carried away.”

Veronica let out a sigh. She wasn’t sure why Logan was so excited about this trip, but she suddenly felt terrible about ruining it for him. “No, I’m sorry… I’ve got a couple more classes today and a big assignment to finish up that’s due tomorrow before we leave, but we could stop someplace on our way out of town to get food, if you want.”

She watched his lips turn up into a smile again. “No problem, I can pick some stuff up tonight after I get the camping gear and then if we need anything else we can grab it tomorrow.”

“Okay,” she replied as she nodded in agreement. A second later, Logan was standing up from his seat, letting her know he needed to get to class and then he was gone.

It was fairly late in the evening when Veronica finally made it back to her dorm room. She’d headed to the library after class to work on her assignment in one of the quiet corners on the top floor that few people ever seemed to visit. She always tried not to think of the times she’d spent making out with Logan up there but found that increasingly difficult that afternoon given their road trip together the next day.

Veronica was a little surprised that Mac wasn’t in the room when she opened the door, but a few minutes later Mac strolled in carrying several Tupperware containers.

“Leftovers from my parents if you’re hungry,” Mac offered as she set the containers down on the small table at the end of their couch. “Logan and my dad grilled steaks,” Mac continued as she made a disgusted face. “At least they did a veggie burger for me too.”

“Oh… right… Logan was planning to stop by to pick up the camping gear,” Veronica commented as she wandered over toward the table and picked up the top container. She hadn’t stopped to eat while she rushed to finish her paper that was due in the morning, and her stomach growled in anticipation of eating a home cooked meal..

“Yeah, my dad helped him get it all loaded into the Range Rover,” Mac confirmed as she tossed her bag onto her bed.

“I didn’t realize they were so… chummy,” Veronica said a bit tentatively as she glanced up at Mac from the potato salad she found in the first container.

Mac’s dimples appeared in her cheeks as she smiled broadly at Veronica. “Yeah… they make quite the unexpected pair don’t they.”

Veronica nodded and looked at her curiously. She decided this was as good an opening as any to figure out what was really going on with Logan, Mac and her family. “How did that even happen?” Veronica asked casually as she inspected the second container in the stack.

Mac slipped her sandals off and moved them over by her desk. “Well… at the beginning of the summer, my dad asked if I knew anyone who could help him deliver a large china cabinet he had refinished for someone. The guy who usually helps him move heavy furniture was out of town and so I decided to see if Logan was free. I expected him to give me some lame excuse to get out of it, but he seemed more than happy to stop by and help. It was about a week after Dick had left with his dad, and I think Logan was starting to get a bit bored and lonely by himself.” Mac walked back over and flopped down on the edge of her bed. “Ryan seemed to take a liking to him too and conned him into playing Settlers of Catan with all of us when they were done. And then Logan told my dad to let him know if there were any other projects he needed help with when he left. Of course my dad was more than happy to take him up on that offer.” Mac gave Veronica a sly smile. “I seriously expected Logan to avoid my dad’s calls after that first day, but he seemed to genuinely enjoy hanging out at our place.” Mac paused as she looked a bit more seriously at Veronica. “I think it helped him miss you a little less to have something else to keep himself busy.”

Veronica let out a disbelieving scoff. “Right… he really seems to have missed me…” she said sarcastically. “He’s barely talked to me since we’ve started classes… I hardly think he was pining over me while I was in Virginia. We weren’t even together when I left.”

Mac laughed and shook her head at Veronica. “Trust me… he still very much misses you… but I don’t think that he wants to push his way back into your life either.”

Veronica looked at her with uncertainty. “I don’t think that’s true. Has he actually _said_ that?”

“Well… not directly I guess… but I can tell.” Mac paused and looked at her for a moment as if she was debating whether to tell Veronica something. Veronica gave her a questioning look, silently urging her to continue. Mac let out a sigh. “I also overheard him talking about you,” Mac finally shared. Veronica’s brows raised up with curiosity. “It was on our first camping trip… he thought I was asleep while he was out talking to my dad by the campfire. A shooting star flew across the sky and my dad told Logan he should make a wish.” Mac laughed and rolled her eyes. “My dad has always made a big deal about shooting stars. Anyway... Logan um… he said the only thing in the world that he would wish for would be to win back the heart of the girl he was still desperately in love with, but he didn’t have any idea how to fix everything that he’d messed up with her.”

Veronica’s mouth opened slightly as she stared speechlessly at Mac. Mac gave her a knowing grin and shrugged. “So yeah.. I’m pretty sure he still misses you.”

“But… he... ” Veronica paused and shook her head again. “I just thought… he seems like he’s intentionally keeping his distance… I didn’t think he still liked me… not like that anyway…”

Mac chuckled and shook her head at Veronica. “I’m guessing he’s worried about messing up again. If you don’t try, you can’t fail… but you also won’t get what you truly want.”

“Oh…” Veronica replied, still a bit shell-shocked from everything Mac had just shared with her.

“I know he’s super excited about going camping with you,” Mac continued, her dimples growing in her cheeks again. “Several times this summer when we were camping, he’d make little comments about wishing you were there… things you’d like too… well of course he’d say that about s’mores… but other stuff too. I’m sure he won’t… you know… try anything on the trip… but that doesn’t mean that deep down he’s not wanting something more with you.” Mac paused and grinned even larger. “Maybe he’s hoping for another shooting star to wish on again.”

Veronica laughed nervously and shook her head. “I just… I didn’t know.”

Mac shrugged. “Well now you do… and I guess it’s up to you on how you use that information.”

Veronica took a deep breath and nodded. She was starting to understand now why things with Logan had felt a bit off since she came back from Virginia. She was grateful that Mac had told her though; it provided her with a better perspective of where things stood now between the two of them. While she was a little nervous about spending all that time alone with him; there was a part of her that was starting to look forward to seeing what might develop between the two of them on their road trip.

Veronica spotted Logan leaning against the wall by her dorm room door when she made it back from class on Friday morning. She gave him an amused grin as she walked toward him. “I hope you haven’t been waiting there since nine-thirty,” she teased as she dug her keys out of her bag.

He shook his head as he bent down to pick up the drink carrier and paper bag that she hadn’t noticed sitting on the ground by his feet. “Nope… just got here about ten minutes ago… stopped in the quad for coffee and pastries if you’re interested,” he replied as he stood back up and presented the items out toward her.

She smiled appreciatively as she opened the now unlocked door. She took the paper bag first and glanced inside before reaching in and taking a bearclaw out. She’d been running a bit late for her morning classes and hadn’t been able to grab any breakfast so she was starving. She took a quick bite and then mumbled out ‘thanks’ with her mouth still full of the delicious pastry. Logan chuckled while he nodded at her. She glanced at the two coffee cups and then looked back up at him questioningly.

“Chocolate macadamia nut,” he explained as he pointed at one, “and caramel mocha,” he continued as he pointed at the other one.

She smooshed up her face slightly as she debated which one to take. She finally reached over and grabbed the caramel mocha.

“We could swap off and on,” he suggested with an amused grin, obviously able to tell she really wanted both of them. “I promise I’m germ free,” he added as he pulled the other coffee out of the holder.

“Come on… you can’t get rid of _boy_ germs… I learned that in second grade,” Veronica teased with a wink.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve already infected you with those,” Logan replied with a chuckle.

“Yeah… I suppose you did,” she agreed with an amused huff before taking another bite of her bearclaw and turning toward her bed. She started to reach for the duffle bag that was sitting on the end of her bed but was interrupted by Logan stepping over next to her.

“I can carry that for you… if you want,” he offered as he gestured toward the bag.

“Well that's mighty kind of you, sir,” Veronica drawled out with a southern twang.

Logan smirked and nodded as he picked up the bag. “Oh, you may want to bring a pillow along if you didn't pack one. Sam sent along sleeping bags, but no pillows. Unless you want to bag the camping and just find a hotel.”

“After the way you hyped up camping the other day?” Veronica teased as she grabbed for the pillow on her bed. “You've got some pretty big expectations to live up to now, I hope you know.”

A broad grin spread across Logan's face. “Challenge accepted,” he replied enthusiastically.

Veronica quickly grabbed a few more things she needed to take along, including the envelope with the papers she needed to serve. She tried not to think about how great it was to see Logan’s eyes light up like that again. She hadn’t seen him this excited about something in as long as she could remember. She’d thought more about what Mac had told her the night before, but she still wasn’t really sure what to do about it. She’d convinced herself that if Logan had made that comment at the beginning of the summer, that maybe he’d changed his mind since then. She just couldn't reconcile his recent behavior with how she would have expected him to act if he really was still in love with her.

“You said we need to head up to Oakhurst, right?” Logan asked as they walked out of the room and Veronica turned to lock it. She nodded in reply. “I found a spot I could reserve at a campground near there on Bass Lake... if that's okay with you. I figured we could at least check it out once we got that far.”

“Sure that sounds fine,” Veronica replied as they started walking down the hall together.  

When they reached his Range Rover, he opened the back to add her duffle bag to the rest of the stuff that was already loaded.

“Is that a fishing pole?” Veronica asked in amusement.

Logan made a sound that halfway sounded like a laugh and halfway like a sigh. “Sam insisted I take it along, just in case. When I mentioned we might be staying by Bass Lake, he got kinda excited about there being a lot of fish there.”

Veronica quirked her eyebrow at him. “And you actually _know_ how to fish?” she asked curiously. The camping thing was a bit odd, but she really couldn’t picture Logan actually fishing.

Logan smirked and gave her a little wink. “Guess you’ll just have to wait and see, now won’t you?”  

“I guess I will,” she replied with a sly grin. “But I hope we're not dependent solely on your fishing skills for our dinner,” she added teasingly.

Logan's hand flew up to his chest as if she had wounded him. “Your lack of confidence hurts, Mars,” he replied with a faux injured look on his face.

“Speaking of food, _Echolls_ ,” Veronica continued after rolling her eyes at his dramatics. “Did we need to stop for provisions on our way out of town? You know… for alternatives to the fish I’m _sure_ you’ll catch.”

“Oh ye of little faith! No… I think I stocked up enough to get us by… even with your _enormous_ appetite,” he replied as he smirked at her. “But just in case, there’s a little resort near the campground with a general store and even a restaurant.”

Logan closed the back of the SUV and walked with her to the passenger door and opened it for her. “Shall we get this epic road trip started?” Logan asked with a grin.

Veronica crooked an eyebrow at him, wondering if his choice of words was significant or not. As far as she knew, he didn’t remember his _epic_ speech. He’d never brought it up again after saying the events of that night were kind of a blur, even when they’d gotten back together several weeks later. He didn’t seem to notice her questioning expression as he waited for her to climb in. Once she was seated, he closed the door behind her.

Logan had ended up carrying the pastry bag along with his coffee as they’d left Veronica’s room. After he climbed into the driver’s seat, he held the bag out to her. “There are a few more if you’re still hungry,” he commented with an almost teasing smile.

She stared at the bag for a moment before shaking her head. “Nope, I’m good, but thanks.”

Logan nodded and turned to put the bag somewhere in the back seat.

“I could keep it up here by me… just in case you decide you want one while you’re driving,” Veronica offered, having second thoughts about turning the offer down now, but she hadn’t wanted to give him the satisfaction of teasing her about it.

“Good plan,” he replied with a hint of amusement. She found a good place to set the bag and then started to put her coffee cup in the center console. “You really can have some of the chocolate macadamia nut one if you want,” he added as he sat his drink in the other empty holder.

Veronica let out a small huff before reaching for his cup and taking a slow drink. She noticed Logan’s lips quirk up in the way they always used to when he knew he was right about something that she hadn’t wanted to admit.

“Now you’re going to get _girl_ germs,” Veronica teased with a mischievous grin.

“I’m all up-to-date on my shots. I’m sure I’ll be fine,” he shot back with a smirk before he started the car and headed out of the parking lot.

They remained fairly quiet until they finally reached the highway and Logan asked her how she’d liked her internship in Virginia. They hadn’t actually talked much about that before she left given the state of things between them, but she wasn’t surprised at all that he knew about it given he’d spend a lot of time with Mac over the summer. She spent a good chunk of time telling him what she could about it, which surprisingly ended up being a lot more than she’d initially expected. Mac and Wallace hadn’t actually asked her too much about it, so other than telling her dad, this was the first time anyone else had really seemed interested in hearing details about what sort of things she had done and how she had liked it there. She was still talking about it when they reached Bakersfield. Logan spotted an In-N-Out as they reached the outskirts of town and suggested that they stop to grab some lunch.

“Double-double, animal style, with extra crispy fries and a chocolate shake?” Logan asked as they approached the order-taker standing at the drive-thru. Veronica smiled and nodded, a little touched by the fact that he still remembered exactly what she liked to order.

While they were silently eating their lunch, Veronica realized she’d spent most of the drive just talking about herself and Virginia. “So… what else did you do this summer besides camping with the Mackenzies?” she asked once they were done with their food and just finishing up their shakes.

“Not a lot… I did some surfing… I actually taught Ryan, Mac’s brother, how to surf,” Logan replied as he focused on the road with a thoughtful look on his face. “I ended up taking a couple of classes too… trying to fix a few GPA issues I ended up with last year,” he admitted a bit sheepishly.

“That’s great, Logan,” Veronica replied, trying not to sound judgmental at all. She knew she’d been a bit tough on him at the start of their year at Hearst about skipping classes and she didn’t want him to feel bad about that now. “I’m sure Ryan really appreciated that too.”

“Yeah… he’s a good kid. I know he drives Mac up the wall most of the time, but I guess... I don’t know… it would have been sort of cool to have a younger brother like that,” he admitted a bit hesitantly. “It was just nice hanging out with her family, which I never imagined I’d end up doing, but somehow I did.”

“Yeah… you mentioned your boys only trip… You and her dad must have hit it off too then?”

“Yeah, he’s a great guy. I mean… your dad’s great too… but, well… I think he was a bit biased given I was interested in you… and having him being the former sheriff… well it was just much different.”

Veronica could tell he felt a little uncomfortable about comparing her dad to Mac’s and coming across sounding like Mac’s was much better. She couldn’t blame him at all though. Things had been strenuous to say the least between Logan and her dad. “I’m glad you and Mr. Mackenzie hit it off,” Veronica replied, hoping to put him more at ease.

“Yeah… me too,”  Logan replied, looking slightly more relaxed. Veronica turned her attention out the window again as he continued to talk. “Her mom’s great too. I still can’t believe that they’re actually—”

Logan’s abrupt silence caused her to turn back toward him. He was staring straight ahead and the relaxed look that had been there only seconds before was gone, and she could tell that he seemed a bit tense all of a sudden.

“They’re actually what?” Veronica asked, not sure at all what was suddenly wrong with him.

“Oh um…” Logan replied as she shook his head, like he’d lost his train of thought for a moment. “Not vegans like Mac,” he continued, sounding less sure of himself, but not looking over at Veronica at all.

“Yeah…” Veronica replied as she studied him for a moment. _What’s really wrong? How did we get from them being great to them not being vegans?_ Veronica thought for another moment before something occurred to her. She’d been texting a few people on her phone occasionally as they drove so she pulled it out to type out a quick message. Logan seemed intently focused on the road now and wouldn’t even glance her way.

 _[Does Logan know about the baby swap?]_ She typed in a text to Mac.

It took about a minute for Mac to reply. ‘ _[Yeah… it came up this summer.]_

 _Of course… freaking Madison._ Veronica bit on her lip as she glanced over at Logan. It was like all the energy and excitement had been drained out of him now; he had a forlorn look on his face that she could tell he was working really hard to hide, but he couldn’t get that by her. _Haven’t we suffered enough from that?_ She spotted a sign for a rest area up ahead.

“Hey, can we stop to use the bathroom?” Veronica asked as she pointed to the sign.

“Of course,” Logan replied as he nodded slightly, but still wouldn’t look at her.

As he pulled in and parked he glanced her way for a moment before he quickly looked away. She knew that look. The one he always had when he felt guilty about something but didn’t know what to do to fix it. He opened his door and climbed out. She watched as he walked to the front of the SUV and leaned against the hood, facing the building with the bathrooms. She took a deep breath and opened her door. She walked over so she was standing in front of him, but he looked over her head toward the building.

“I’ll um… just wait here,” he said as he avoided her gaze.

“Hey…” she said in a firm tone, causing him to look at her. “I know what you were going to say in the car… and I think… I think it’s time we put that behind us, don’t you agree?”

He swallowed hard and nodded. “I’m sorry, Veronica,” he mumbled as he looked regretfully at her. “I didn’t want to lie to you… but I didn’t want to mention her name either… I don’t know why I even started to…” he let out a frustrated breath and looked disappointed in himself.

“Well the fact that she’s biologically related to such wonderfully nice people while she’s such a monster _is_ pretty shocking,” Veronica responded with a sly grin. “And the whole baby swap thing… that in itself is pretty crazy too.”

He finally smiled a bit more and she could see his shoulders start to relax. “Yeah… my mind was definitely blown when Mac told me…” He took a deep breath before he spoke again. “And thanks… for not getting upset with me.”

Veronica gave him a warm smile and nodded. “Yeah… of course… I don’t want you to feel like you have to keep things from me just because it might upset me, okay? I’d like to think we’re better friends than that.”

“Me too,” Logan replied with a genuine smile on his face.

“Well, now that that’s settled... “ Veronica gave him a smirk and gestured with her head toward the bathrooms. “I did finish off one and a half coffees and a milkshake, so I think I’ll just run in there quickly.”

Logan nodded and looked a bit more confident before he told her that he’d be right there waiting for her.

After their brief stop, Veronica asked Logan to tell her about some of the camping trips that he’d gone on with Mac’s family to try to get him excited again. It seemed to work and it wasn’t long before he had her laughing about some of the mishaps that had happened on their various outings. Time had gone by much faster than she expected, and before she knew it, Logan announced that they’d arrived. She glanced at the name of the campground as they started to pull off the main road and couldn’t help but chuckle quietly.

“Wishon Point Campground?” she asked with amusement. Logan nodded as he slowly made their way to their spot. “Like _wish on_ a star?” she asked next.

He glanced at her for a moment with a slightly puzzled look on his face before he answered. “Yeah, I guess so…. although it is just one word.”

Veronica definitely wasn’t going to be able to forget what Mac had told her now that they were staying at a campground with a name like that. _What’s next? An actual falling star?_

The site Logan had reserved for them was one of the few that faced out to the lake that was across the main road. Since it wasn’t summertime, there were only a few boats out on the lake and the campground seemed to be only partially full. Logan didn’t waste any time in starting to unload the Range Rover and set up camp. At first Veronica watched him in amazement until she finally realized she should probably volunteer to help.

It had been years since Veronica had been camping, and she was quickly grateful that Logan knew exactly what he was doing. He had her help him set up the tent and then asked if she could use the portable pump to fill up the air-mattress in the tent while he got other things organized. She’d been wondering if they were going to just have to sleep on the hard ground, so she was thrilled that they’d have the comfort of a large air-mattress. She briefly wondered if it would be strange to share it with Logan, but as he brought in the separate sleeping bags, she realized that there wouldn’t really be any chance for them to accidently get tangled up under covers together. She momentarily chastised herself for actually being disappointed about that.

When she was finished with the air-mattress and left the tent, she saw that Logan had filled the fire pit with wood and set up some very comfortable looking camping chairs around it. There was also a small propane camping stove set up on the edge of the picnic table and the cooler she’d spotted in the back of the SUV was sitting near that.

“So… are you still planning to catch our dinner?” Veronica teased as she glanced out toward the lake. “We only have, what, about another hour or so before the sun starts to set? You’d better get a move on if you plan to impress me with your fishing skills.”  

“Yep… I can’t imagine that burger and fries will hold you over much longer, will they?” he replied with a smug grin before he walked back over to the SUV and grabbed the fishing pole and a tackle box from the back.

It was only a short walk from their campsite down and across the road to the edge of the lake. Logan pointed to a log near the edge of the water and suggested that it looked like a good spot before walking over and placing the tackle box on it. Veronica watched as he took a seat on the log next to the box, opened it and started digging through it. She had no idea what he was looking for, but was astonished that he seemed to actually know what he was doing. She took a seat on the opposite side of the open box and stared inside as Logan pulled out a small jar of what looked like little reddish-orange orbs.

“Balls-O-Fire?” she chortled as she read the top of the lid and then laughed even harder as she caught a glance at what was written around the outside edge. “Soft but satisfying?”

A lecherous grin started to form on Logan’s face, but then he let out a huff of breath and shook his head, obviously quelching whatever retort had popped into his mind. “They’re salmon eggs,” he explained as he started carefully sliding them onto a hook attached to the end of the line on the fishing pool.

“Well I’m glad they are ‘ _soft but satisfying_ ’ then,” Veronica replied in amusement. “In my experience, most _soft_ things aren’t that _satisfying_ ,” she couldn’t help but add.

Logan gave her a slightly admonishing look as he shook his head at her, which made her laugh even harder.

“Come on, Logan… you know you likely had several quips that you were just dying to say.”   

He smiled a bit more before he stood up and walked closer to the edge of the water. She watched as he did something with the reeling part of the pole and then swung the pole backwards before casting it forward causing the hook and eggs and a small red and yellow ball that he’d also attached to the line to fly out across the water before it finally landed with a small splash. He did something else with the reeling part before he walked back over and sat on the log again.

Veronica glanced out at to where she could still see the yellow half of the ball floating in the water and then back at him. He was just staring out at the water now too. She glanced back toward the yellow float before turning back to him again. “Now what?” she asked out of curiosity.

“We wait for a fish to bite,” Logan explained as he glanced at her for a second and then looked back out at the water again.

Veronica squished up her nose and glanced back and forth between him and the ball again. She saw his lip curl up slightly, obviously able to see her out of his peripheral vision. “That’s it?” she asked with a slight amount of exasperation. “I thought there’d be a bit more… action.”

“Looking for a bit of _action_ , are you?” Logan quickly replied, causing Veronica to smile with delight. There was her playful, flirty Logan. _Finally_.

She laughed and shook her head. “You know what I meant,” she replied a bit coyly, not wanting to get too unguarded with him yet. He tilted his head so he could see her for a second and smiled one of his smug little mischievous grins before he nodded and turned back to face the water again.

“So this is all you normally do when you fish? Sit on a log and stare at a floating little ball?”

“It’s called a bobber,” Logan explained and then chuckled to himself.

“I’m sure it is,” Veronica replied teasingly.

“When the fish takes the bait, it pulls on the line and the bobber will disappear under the water,” Logan explained with just a hint of amusement in his tone.

“How long does it usually take?” Veronica asked as she continued to watch him, while he just watched the bobber.

Logan shrugged. “Just depends… we fished for over an hour at one lake and never had a single bite, while at another lake we caught several in the first thirty minutes.”

“What do you do while you wait?” Veronica asked next, still shocked that Logan was actually doing this.

“I don’t know… I guess we talked about stuff,” Logan answered as he lifted one shoulder in a half shrug.  

“Oh…” Veronica replied as she stared out at the water again. “Why don’t you talk to me anymore?” she found herself asking without giving it a second thought.

“What?” he asked as he turned to look at her. As she glanced over at him, she saw a look of confusion on his face. “We talked a lot today,” he continued with a tone of uncertainty.

“Yeah… but before that… at school… you’re around… studying with Mac… but you don’t really talk to me anymore.” She had no idea why all of a sudden she’d gone there and felt a bit vulnerable now, but she couldn’t take it back either and wanted to know the reason.

Logan let out a small sigh. “I um…” He paused and shook his head as he stared back out at the water. “Piz is always there…” he explained quietly.

Veronica’s brow crinkled in confusion. She hadn’t really thought much about it, but most of the time Piz was there too when they were all together. “Well, we’re not together anymore…” Veronica started to say before Logan spoke again.

“And I feel guilty…” he added ruefully.

Veronica hadn’t expected that. “You shouldn’t feel guilty… it’s not your fault we broke up.”

Logan stared back at her for a second before he spoke softly. “That’s not why… I feel guilty that I’m glad,” he admitted before quickly turning away to face the water again.

A small smile ghosted across Veronica’s lips. She’d been doubtful about what Mac had told her because Logan hadn’t acted how she would have expected him to act if what Mac had said was true. But now, looking at the situation from Logan’s perspective, things were starting to make more sense. _But what do you want, Veronica? How many times can we crash and burn before we end up at the point of never being able to even stand to be around each other? Is being just friends better than nothing at all?_

Veronica’s ruminations were suddenly interrupted by Logan quickly hopping up from the log. He was cranking the little handle on the pole causing the now bouncing bobber to come closer to shore. Veronica hopped off the log and walked over to the edge of the water with him. She watched as he hoisted a shiny silver fish out of the water and into his hands.

“I thought it would be bigger,” Veronica commented as she looked at the small fish in his hand that was likely only about six inches long.

A rakish grin broke out across Logan’s face before he spoke. “Not something I normally hear...” he replied, causing her to roll her eyes at him. “...since usually I catch much larger ones,” he continued, shifting to have an innocent look on his face.

“Well, I’m still impressed… although I don’t think that’s going to make much of a meal.”

“Yeah… he’s too little to keep, but maybe we’ll get lucky and get a bigger one next.”

Veronica watched as Logan carefully removed the hook from the little fish’s lip and then sat it down in the water. It only took a few seconds for the little fish to bolt off and disappear in the deeper water. Logan went back to put more eggs on his hook before casting the line out again. Just a few seconds after he sat down on the log, a huge bald eagle swooped down over the lake and effortlessly snagged a fish in its claws and then flew back up, disappearing behind the tree line.

“Wow…” Veronica mumbled. “That was… majestic…”

“Yeah,” Logan replied as he turned and gave her guileful grin. “And no comment about his being bigger than mine.”

Veronica laughed and shook her head at him. “So, what was the largest one you caught this summer?” she asked next, deciding to shift the conversation away from the more personal topic she’d brought up before. He seemed more than happy to share some of his fishing stories with her while they waited for him to catch another fish. He told her about how he, Sam and Ryan would try to outdo each other and ended up making it into a bit of a competition. The one who caught the smallest fish had to do the dishes. Logan was typically the one who ended up losing until their last trip when he finally caught the biggest one. Logan enthusiastically told her about the eighteen-inch fish he caught that trip when she happened to glance back out at the lake.

“Your bobber thingy… it’s bouncing…” Veronica told him as she pointed out at it and stood up from the log.

Logan stood up as well and reeled in his line again. He had a smuger grin this time as the fish was easily twice the size of the little one he’d caught first.

“Well… that’s a much more impressive catch,” Veronica commented with an impressed look on her face.  

“See… we could easily survive out here on my exceptional fishing abilities,” Logan bragged as he removed the hook from the fish’s mouth.

“Yeah, yeah… you’re a real Daniel Boone…” Veronica teased as she shook her head at him. “But now what do you do with it? Just eat it like that?” she asked as she squished up her nose.

Logan laughed and shook his head. “Not exactly… I need to gut… clean it and then we can cook it on the fire.” Veronica grimaced a bit more, not really excited about the preparation part. “Why don’t you head back up to camp and I’ll clean it down here by the water and meet you up there,” Logan suggested.

“Sounds good,” Veronica replied quickly before she turned and headed back up to their campsite.

As she made her way back, Veronica realized through the trees she could make out the resort that Logan had mentioned just past the campground. She also saw what she thought looked like cabins, and it struck her again just how crazy it was that Logan was so excited about camping and sleeping in a tent when there were other more civilized options so close by. Of course she’d been the one who said she didn’t want to stay someplace expensive, but she’d still never expected him to be so excited about all of this. She grabbed a soda out of the cooler and took a seat in one of the camping chairs that Logan had set up around the firepit. It faced back out toward the lake, and the tranquility of the view and her surroundings really hit her. She could easily see why Logan might find all of this appealing. It was peaceful and quiet; no reminders of the life he’d grown up knowing.

It didn’t take long for Veronica to spot Logan walking back up from the lake. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and snapped a shot of him carrying the fishing pole, tackle box and fish with the lake in the background. Definitely as unusual of a shot as the one he took of her behind bars.

“Enjoying the view?” Logan asked with a smug grin when he finally reached her. She wasn’t sure if he actually did notice her taking the picture because she thought he was looking down at the ground more than up at her as he was walking back up.

“Yeah…” she answered a bit coyle. “It’s pretty nice here. Lot’s of scenery to appreciate.”

Logan smiled a bit more and nodded. She still couldn’t tell if he was just amused that she was enjoying herself when she’d been reluctant about it before or if he knew she was sort of referring to him too. He sat the pole and the box down on the picnic table while he went over to another box he’d brought along and opened it up. He grabbed some foil out of that box and laid the fish on it. He then went over and snagged a soda out of the cooler and stared out at the lake again as he opened it.

“They actually filmed ‘The Great Outdoors’ here,” he commented before taking a long drink from the soda can.

“Lake Potowotominimac?”

“Yeah… I guess… Was that actually the name they gave it in the movie?” Logan asked with a perplexed expression on his face.

Veronica smiled broadly and nodded. “Yeah… my dad loved that movie for some reason, so I saw it quite a few times.”

“I didn’t realize that was the name of the lake in the movie… I guess they were shooting it at a lodge across the lake that actually burned down the year after they filmed it. They did rebuild it since then though. There’s a popular steakhouse there…. Ducey’s On The Lake.”

“Steak, hm?” Veronica mumbled as she turned back to the lake again.

“Hey! My fish will be delicious,” Logan protested with a huff.

Veronica laughed and turned back to him with a mischievous grin. “I’m sure it will… and while it was _much_ larger than the first one… I do hope you have some other things to go with it, because I’m not sure that’s going to fill both of us up. Shall I go forage for some berries?”

Logan chuckled and shook his head. “No, I’m sure I’ve got plenty of other options without forcing you to go foraging. Natalie sent along some beef stew that we can heat up and some homemade biscuits too.”

“What, no dessert?” Veronica teased, earning a slightly admonishing look from Logan.

“S’mores, of course,” Logan replied as he playfully shook his head at her and started pulling things out of the cooler. “It’s camping, Veronica… what other sort of dessert could there even be?”  

Veronica smirked as he sat several apples out on the table. “Glad to see you didn’t forget your favorite fruit,” she commented as she stood up and walked over to pick one up, tossing it in the air before catching it and placing it back with the others.

“You know… an apple a day…” Logan countered with a shrug.

She gave him a tender smile and nodded. She couldn’t help but wonder how often he’d hoped that really was true when he was younger. Although she knew that Aaron had avoided involving doctors as much as possible as well. “What can I do to help?” Veronica asked. As surprised as she’d been that Logan actually knew what to do while he was fishing, she was almost as surprised at how comfortable he seemed to be with preparing their dinner too.

“Think you can manage heating duty? It does require the ability to stir,” Logan teased as he pulled a pot and spoon out of the box near the cooler.

“Whatever, _Betty Crocker_ ,” Veronica scoffed as she shook her head at him.

“I’ll start the camp stove for you… not sure you’re qualified for that job yet,” Logan countered with a mischievous wink.     

It had still been somewhat of a surreal experience watching Logan buzzing around the campsite, starting the fire and preparing the fish. But Veronica had to admit once they were done eating, that he was right and the fish was quite delicious. He modestly admitted that it was thanks to Natalie and Sam teaching him their special way of cooking it when they had been camping. It was too dark to see the lake anymore by the time they finished eating, and so for a little while they just sat quietly staring into the crackling embers of the fire.

“So what else would you do when you were camping with the Mackenzies?”

“Well…” Logan replied with a thoughtful look on his face. “They usually brought games and cards along and we’d play those sometimes.”  

“I’m guessing you didn’t play Texas Hold’em with them,” Veronica teased.

Logan chuckled and shook his head. “No… Ryan taught me how to play Garbage so we played that a lot.”

“Garbage?” Veronica asked as she gave him a puzzled look.

“Yeah… it’s a card game. I um… I think I have a deck of cards in the glove box if you want me to teach you.”

Veronica laughed softly. “Never know when you might need a deck of cards for strip poker?” she asked teasingly.

“No…” he replied with a sheepish grin as he shook his head. “Ryan left them there… so you can’t tease me about them when you see them either.”

Veronica gave him a questioning look as he stood up and walked to the car. He walked back and took a seat at the picnic table, repositioning a lantern that had been closer to the cooler so it was sitting near him on the table. Veronica stood up from her chair and walked over to take a seat across from him at the picnic table. She laughed as she spotted the Incredible Hulk on the back of the cards that Logan had removed from their package and was shuffling.

“Ryan’s,,,, sure,” she teased as she smiled up at him.

Logan ignored her comment and started laying cards out on the table in front of them. He made two rows of five cards for both of them and then placed the deck in the middle.

“The objective is to get your cards to show 1-10 in order and you flip them over as you get one to go in that spot,” Logan explained. “Kings are wild. You can go first… go ahead and draw.”

Veronica drew the top card and Logan continued to explain the game as he had her swap the five she drew with the fifth card in front of her and then had her put the two that was there in the second spot, which revealed a queen, so her turn was over. He continued to explain the game as he took his turn and she was able to quickly catch on. He shared that usually they’d play all the way down to one card, with the winner of each round getting to have one less for the following round. She certainly had never expected this day to end with the two of them playing with Incredible Hulk cards at a picnic table by a lake in the woods.

“Should we break for s’mores?” Logan asked as they finished their fifth round of the game. Veronica had been so stuffed with the beef stew, biscuits and fish for dinner that she hadn’t even thought about dessert earlier.

Veronica enthusiastically agreed, which caused Logan to chuckle at her as he collected the cards and put them back in their box. He pulled graham crackers, chocolate bars and marshmallows out of the food box as well as two collapsable metal sticks for roasting the marshmallows.

“You really are the prepared little camper, aren’t you?” Veronica teased as he handed her a stick. Logan chuckled and shrugged before they headed back over to the chairs by the fire. Veronica had toasted her first one and was staring at it thinking about Lilly. She couldn’t help but think back to some of the times when they were younger and would have bonfires on the beach with Lilly and Duncan. They’d frequently bring along s’mores supplies with them back then as well. Lilly would always con the boys into making hers for her so she wouldn’t get her fingers all gooey.

“Do you want me to put it on the graham cracker for you?” Logan teased softly. From the look he was giving her, she couldn’t help but wonder if he was remembering the same thing. Veronica shook her head and held her hand out for the graham crackers. “Did you know you get a certain expression on your face when you think about her?” he asked with a somber look on his face as he handed Veronica the package of graham crackers. She shook her head again and tried to smile, but she could tell it probably didn’t seem very genuine.

“Do you think about her much?” Veronica found herself asking as she pulled a graham cracker out of the package and reached for one of the candy bars that Logan had sat on a stump between their chairs.

Logan shrugged and let out a deep sigh. “Sometimes… not as much as I used to… but every once in awhile something will remind me of her.”  

Veronica nodded in understanding as she stared at her now completed s’more. “Same for me… I used to dream about her a lot… right after… but now that’s pretty rare.”

“Yeah… it’s been a long time since I’ve dreamt about _her_ ,” he commented almost nervously. Veronica glanced over at him and noticed he had a solemn faraway look in his eyes as he stared at the fire. He suddenly cleared his throat and forced a smile back on his face as he turned to look at Veronica again. “She’d certainly hate sleeping in a tent out in the middle of the woods.”

Veronica laughed at that. “Yeah, can you imagine the fit she would have thrown if someone had actually made her do it?”

Logan chuckled as well for a few moments before he stopped and gave her a more serious look. “Thanks for going along with this, Veronica. I really enjoyed spending the day with you. Like you said down by the lake… it’s been too long since we’ve just talked and hung out like real friends.”

Veronica swallowed down the lump she felt in her throat and nodded, needing a second to find her voice again. _Had he also decided that just being friends was the safest thing for us too?_ Part of her wished she wasn’t so terrified about just coming right out and saying something to him, but her fears seemed to be winning out. “Yeah… I’ve missed being your friend too.”

He smiled and nodded as well before turning his gaze back to the fire. They each made a couple more s’mores before Veronica wasn’t able to suppress a loud yawn.

“It is getting a little late, isn’t it?” Logan commented as he glanced at his watch. “If you’re ready to call it a night, I can take care of things out here if you want to go in and change clothes. Just let me know when it’s safe to come in.”

She mumbled a ‘sure’ as she stood up from the chair. She couldn’t help but think about the times that her changing clothes in front of him was no big deal. In fact usually he was the one taking most of the clothes off. She shook her head slightly to clear those thoughts out of her head.

“You can take the lantern in and I’ll grab a flashlight,” Logan continued as he stood up as well and moved to the table. He pulled a flashlight out of the box that had contained the food and turned it on.

Veronica grabbed the lantern and headed into the tent. She hadn’t realized how much heat the fire was giving off until she got in the tent and realized there was a brisk chill in the air. She was glad that Mac had suggested that she may want to take some warmer clothes for sleeping in and that layers were usually a necessity when camping. _Especially when you don’t have a warm body to snuggle up with._ Veronica let out a small sigh and changed her clothes before slipping into the sleeping bag by her pillow.

“I’m done changing,” she called out softly, not wanting her voice to carry to any of the other campsites.

She could tell that Logan was dousing the fire as she heard the hiss of steam and could see the light dimming. He poked his head in the tent and smiled at her. “I’m just going to put the food box back in the Range Rover so we don’t have critters trying to get into it,” he told her before disappearing again.

He appeared a few minutes later with two bottles of water. “Just in case you get thirsty,” he said as he handed one to her. She thanked him and sat it down next to the air-mattress.

“I um…” he started a bit nervously. “I was going to change too… you can just close your eyes… or not... whatever you want to do… I’m leaving my boxers on while I change.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at his nervousness. Even before they’d dated, she’d seen him with very little clothing on during sleepovers at the Kane’s, and of course when they were together the prior year, she’d seen him naked many times. “I can close my eyes if that makes _you_ feel better,” she responded with a playful lilt to her voice.

“It’s not… I’m not… I just didn’t want you to feel awkward.”

Veronica chuckled again. “You seem to be the one feeling awkward, Logan.”

He gave her a sheepish grin and shrugged. “Maybe a little, but it really is because I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“Well I appreciate that, but I promise I’m fine,” Veronica replied reassuringly. “But I’ll close my eyes if that will make you feel better,” she added before she reached up and covered her face with her hands.

She heard Logan let out a little sigh and then heard him shuffling through his bag. It only took a minute before she felt the air-mattress shift slightly and he quietly said ‘all done’. She uncovered her face and saw that he’d changed into a long-sleeve t-shirt and sweatpants.

“This is a pretty fancy air-mattress,” she commented as she bounced slightly on it. It was definitely a much higher quality one than she’d ever seen before. He grinned as she bounced and she could only imagine he was thinking about how childish she probably looked.

“I actually bought this one…” he admitted.

“For us?” Veronica asked before she realized how that may have sounded. “I mean… for this trip?”

“Yeah. Sam had some pads that we used a few times over the summer, when we didn’t have their RV, and those were not very comfortable at all… so I thought… well I thought this would be much better.”

“I definitely agree,” Veronica told him as she watched him move around so he could crawl into his sleeping bag too. It was stranger than she’d expected it to be; lying right next to him, yet not being able to just curl up and wrap her arms around him. He finally got situated and turned on his side so that he was facing her. She so badly wanted to reach out and run her fingers across his cheek, but knew that she shouldn’t. She suddenly realized that they’d actually gone the entire day without touching each other at any point. Even back before they were dating, when they were good friends, they’d been affectionate with each other; innocent hugs, bumping shoulders or even curling up together watching movies.

“Do we need to leave early tomorrow?” Logan asked, pulling Veronica out of her thoughts.

“Oh… um… not super early. It will probably be another hour from here to the place we need to go, but there isn’t a particular time we need to try to be there.”

“Okay… I wasn’t sure if we needed to be sure we were out of here by a certain time.”

Veronica shook her head in reply.

“Since the lantern’s on your side of the bed, you can turn it off whenever you’re ready,” he continued with a faint smile.

“Oh right,” she said as she turned away from him to where she’d put the battery operated lantern when she came in. She flicked it off and realized just how dark it was out there in the middle of the woods. There were several other groups camping too, but none were very close to their campsite. _At least not seeing him lying next to me might make it easier_. She immediately realized that wasn’t really true at all. “Hey, Logan?” she said into the darkness.

“Yeah?” he answered quietly.

“Thanks for volunteering to come along and being so excited about camping. It really was a fun day.”

“Of course… and anytime you need a road-trip buddy… I’d be more than happy to go along.”

“Thanks,” she replied softly. She couldn’t help but wonder though, for how long that would be true. _He’s not going to be single forever, Veronica._ She doubted any new girlfriend would be thrilled about him going on road-trips with his ex. As she drifted off to sleep, she felt an uneasy feeling deep inside since she was totally conflicted about what exactly she should do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter of this. I’m really happy that so many people have enjoyed it. This was my first intentional story for one of the writing prompts, and this story ended up a bit longer than when I first thought about what sort of story I’d write to go with the gate picture. In some ways that wasn’t so great since I almost didn’t make the deadline! Although I’m sure lots of people will want it to continue and wish for it to be longer. For now this is where it ends, but maybe someday I can write a little more for this version of them.
> 
> As always, thanks to Bondopoulos for her wonderful beta skills! 
> 
> Disclaimer: All VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.

It was still pitch black when a rustling noise woke Veronica up. At first she thought maybe it was just the wind, but then she heard what sounded like one of the camp chairs being knocked over. 

“Logan,” she whispered in his direction. She could hear him softly snoring and knew he was still asleep. “Logan,” she tried again a little louder with no result. She finally reached over and shook his shoulder slightly through the sleeping bag.

“Hmmm,” he mumbled out, not really sounding very awake.

“There’s something out there,” she told him as she nudged his shoulder again.

“What?’ he asked, sounding slightly more alert.

“There’s something outside the tent.”

“Probably just squirrels,” he mumbled. It sounded like he was pulling his sleeping bag up higher on his body. There was a relatively loud bang, and she felt him sit up. “Okay… not a squirrel,” he announced. She heard him rummaging around on his side of the air-mattress.

“What if it’s a bear?” Veronica asked with more than just a hint of fear in her voice.

Logan chuckled as he turned on his flashlight. “I’m sure it’s not a bear, Veronica.”

“But we’re really close to Yosemite, and there are bears there… and there was a bear in the movie,” she rambled on.

Logan chuckled a bit more and shook his head. “The bear in the movie wasn’t really a wild bear, Veronica… I’m sure you know that. And I’m certain it’s not a bear. I’ll just go out and check on things.”

“But what if it  _ is _ ?” she asked with concern. “I have my tazer… can you tazer a bear? You should take it anyway.”

Logan laughed at her a bit harder. “Veronica, it’s  _ not  _ a bear.” He paused and gave her an indulgent smile. “But  _ if  _ it is, I’d rather  _ you  _ have the tazer in here with you so he can’t eat you too.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, not at all amused by his comment. He stood up and slowly, unzipped the tent and then disappeared outside with the flashlight, causing darkness to overtake the tent again. She leaned over and scrambled for the lantern and then fished around in her bag until she pulled out her tazer. She figured if she heard him being attacked she could at least try to use it to save him. She heard some more rustling sounds and then it sounded like Logan was setting the chairs back up around the campfire pit. The tent walls were a bit too thick for her to make out much other than where Logan’s light was at. After a few minutes, he came back in through the tent door. He laughed and shook his head at her when he spotted her sitting there with the tazer in her hand. 

“What was it?” she asked, still gripping the tazer tightly. She watched as he turned around to zip the tent door closed again.

“An apple thief,” Logan replied with amusement as he made his way back to his sleeping bag. I forgot I’d pulled those apples out of the cooler and a deer decided they would make a delicious midnight snack. He glanced down at her hands and then back up at her eyes. “I’d feel a bit safer going back to sleep if you put  _ that  _ away,” he teased. “I wouldn’t want you to mistake my snoring for a bear and tazer me while I’m sleeping.”  

She rolled her eyes and tossed the device back into her bag. “You  _ do  _ snore like a bear, so it’s an easy mistake to make,” she replied with a smirk.

“ _ Right _ ,” he replied with a sly grin as he nodded at her. “Good thing  _ you  _ don’t snore,” he commented sarcastically as he reached over and bopped the end of her nose. 

“Hey, I don’t snore!” she protested. Maybe it was the relief that he hadn’t been eaten by a bear, or the fact that he’d finally touched her, but whatever it was, she didn’t even give it a second thought before she was reaching out to tickle him. He laughed and tried to squirm away, which was difficult to do having half of his body wrapped up in the sleeping bag and he ended up falling onto his back with her practically lying on top of him. 

“Okay, okay,” he conceded while he tried to grab ahold of her wrists to stop her assault. “You  _ don’t  _ snore,” he laughed out when he finally got his hands around her wrists.

“That’s better,” she countered with a smug grin, but then she realized how close she was to him. With the way they’d ended up, she had her arms braced against his chest and her head was only a few inches away from his. She could easily just lean down and press her lips to his.  _ But what if that’s not what he wants? We still have to spend most of tomorrow together, and if I kiss him and he brushes me off, how uncomfortable will that be? _ Logan’s eyebrows bobbed up in a questioning manner, obviously realizing she had hesitated for a moment.   

“Sorry… did I hurt your wrists?” he asked with concern a second later as he let go of her wrists and stared down at her arms.

“No… I’m.. I’m fine,” she mumbled as she moved off of him and sat up straight again. She involuntarily shivered as the loss of adrenaline, plus being close to him wore off and she felt the chill in the air hit her. 

“Cold?” he asked, obviously noticing her reaction. 

She nodded and gave him a slight smile. 

“You should get all the way back into your sleeping bag,” he told her.

“Yeah,” she agreed, trying not to sound disappointed as she reached over and turned off the lantern again before wiggling back down into the sleeping bag. 

Logan’s flashlight was still on, so he could see her face. “Better?” he asked, with a look that she couldn’t quite decipher. It looked a bit like concern, but she wasn’t exactly sure if that’s what it was. She shrugged in reply. It was warmer, but not really  _ better _ . “You should start warming up again now that you’re all covered up,” he told her as he started pulling his own sleeping bag up higher. She nodded, although she would have prefered other ways of warming back up.  “You could scoot closer to me... if you want to. That might make it a little warmer for you,” he continued, looking slightly uncertain with his suggestion. She couldn’t tell if he didn’t really want her to get closer or if he was worried about what she’d think of the suggestion.

“If you’re sure that’s okay with you,” she responded, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

“Yeah, of course,” he replied with a small smile. She was glad there didn’t seem to be any hesitation to his response.

She scooted closer to him and tipped her head so that the side of it was resting on his chest. She could hear his heart beating and closed her eyes, enjoying the comfort it provided. 

“Better?” he asked as he turned off the flashlight. It felt like he was moving the arm that he’d turned the light off with back into his sleeping bag. She wished he’d wrapped it around her instead, but at least lying right against him was nice too.

“Yeah,” she said softly as she pressed her cheek a bit more into his chest. 

“Good,” he replied quietly. “Good night, Veronica,” he mumbled a second later.  

“G’night, Logan,” she whispered. She continued listening to his heart beating and his rhythmic breathing until she finally felt herself drifting off to sleep again. 

When Veronica woke up again, she could tell that it had already started to get light outside. She quickly realized that the reason she’d woken up was because Logan must have been moving a bit, which caused the air-mattress to bounce slightly. 

“Sorry,” he whispered when she involuntarily groaned slightly. “I was trying not to wake you up… which on an air-mattress… yeah, not really possible.” 

She tried to mumble that it was okay, but she wasn’t sure it came out very coherently.  He said something about getting up, she thought. Maybe he said he’d get the fire started. She heard a loud unzipping sound and then felt him lay his sleeping bag over the top of hers which instantly made her feel considerably warmer. She tried to pry open her eyes and then realized he was changing clothes again. He may have said that when she wasn’t really awake enough to listen. His back was to her, so he couldn’t tell that she was actually watching him. Even though she was still sleepy, she couldn’t seem to close her eyes again, watching as he slid his sweats down, exposing his bare legs below the boxer briefs he was wearing. She was a little surprised to see him in boxer briefs rather than looser fitting regular boxers, but she certainly wasn’t complaining about the snug fit. Unfortunately it only took him a few seconds to pull on a pair of jeans and then he grabbed a heavier sweatshirt out of his duffle bag. She was still watching as he turned back to her. Her eyes quickly flashed from his waist area up to his eyes. He cocked his head slightly and narrowed his eyes at her. 

“Were you watching me change?” he asked teasingly.

She shook her head slowly but couldn’t help the little grin that spread across her lips. 

He chuckled and gave her a quick wink. “I would have put on a better show if I’d known.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

She bit on her lip and then pulled the sleeping bag up over her face, totally embarrassed that he’d caught her. She could hear him laugh and then she felt the air-mattress bounce slightly. He pulled the sleeping bag away so he could see her face.

“Since you’re obviously awake  _ now _ ,” he started as he gave her a mischievous grin. “I was going to head over to the pay showers at the resort next door before I come back and start the fire. You can go back to sleep if you want, though.” He paused before giving her an obviously exaggerated salacious grin. “Although if you’re in the mood for more ogling, you can follow me over there.”  

“You  _ wish _ ,” she said with a coy smile before tugging the sleeping bag up over her head again. She heard him chuckle and was glad he couldn’t tell just how much she did want to take him up on that offer. It was more than a little obvious that he was just enjoying teasing her and that he wasn’t being serious about it. She felt the bed shift more as his laughing subsided and then she heard him unzip and rezip the tent door again. She closed her eyes tightly shut and tried not to imagine him naked under a stream of hot water.

Since it must have still been fairly early, Veronica actually did doze off again while she waited for Logan to return. When she woke up again, she could hear the crackle of a fire outside the tent. She stretched under the warmth of the duel sleeping bags, not sure she was ready to venture out into the brisk morning air. Logan must have heard her moving around, because a minute later he unzipped the door and peeked in at her. 

“Hey there, sleepy head. I thought I heard you moving around in here.”

She smiled as he came in carrying two coffee mugs in his hands.

“I thought this might help wake you up, and warm you up too,” he said as he knelt down next to the air-mattress and carefully held out the cup for her. “Cream and sugar, hopefully the way you like it.”

She thanked him as she carefully sat up, trying to keep as much of the sleeping bag on her as possible. He nodded and handed her one of the mugs, standing back up as he took a sip of his own.

“I was making some breakfast burritos. If you want, I can bring them in here so you can eat yours in bed. It’s still a bit chilly out there, although the fire helps some.”

Her expression easily gave him the answer to that without her even needing to say anything. He chuckled softly and told her he’d be right back with the food. He sat his coffee mug down carefully where it wouldn’t spill and then disappeared out of the tent again.

When he returned he had a plate with several foil wrapped burritos on it. She eyed them with curiosity before she unwrapped one and took a bite. After she let out a pleased moan, Logan carefully sat down on the edge of the bed and took one for himself.

“Did Natalie send these along too?” Veronica asked after finishing her second bite.

“ _ Maybe… _ ” Logan replied a bit sheepishly. “But I did warm them up for us.”

“Well you did a  _ marvelous  _ job at that,” Veronica said with a hint of exaggerated praise. 

Logan nodded in amusement and took a few more bites of his burrito. “So… were we going to head back to Neptune after you serve your papers, or did you want to stay another night?” he asked a bit hesitantly. She could tell the amusement that had been there moments before was quickly overshadowed by his anxiousness about asking her about staying. Even though he hadn’t said it, just the way he was asking, she was pretty sure he did want to stay longer. “I wasn’t sure if I should start packing things up,” he continued when she didn’t answer right away.

“Well it is really peaceful up here. I do need to do some reading for class, but I could just as easily do that here instead of back in Neptune… if you want to stay that is,” she answered, deciding she’d better make sure she was right and he did want to stay another night.

“Yeah… definitely… I brought some school stuff along too, so that works out perfectly.”

She was a little surprised that he also wanted to do school work and her expression must have given that away.

“I wasn’t sure if we’d be stuck waiting for someone…. like a stake out… so I brought some stuff along,” he explained with a shrug. “And if I don’t keep up on my history reading, Mac gives me too much grief,” he added with a smirk. 

Veronica tipped her cup back to finish off the rest of her coffee. 

“Want a refill?” Logan asked as she tipped the cup back down. 

“You really don’t have to wait on me, Logan.”

“I don’t mind… it’s sort of nice.”

She gave him an affectionate smile and nodded. “Well... I do appreciate it,” she commented as he reached out for her empty cup. He asked whether the amount of cream and sugar was okay before he disappeared out of the tent again. 

He returned a few minutes later and took a seat on the air-mattress, closer to her feet this time. She thanked him as he handed her the cup, earning a quick nod from him. 

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you with bed-head,” he commented with a teasing smirk. A horrifying thought passed through her as her hand not holding the coffee quickly flew up to assess, and possibly fix, the damage. Logan chuckled at her reaction, and she wasn’t sure if he was just messing with her or not. She nudged him with her foot and gave him a scolding look. Her hair at least didn’t feel too crazy, although she could imagine it was likely a tangled mess.

“We can’t all be  _ perfect  _ when we wake up like  _ you _ ,” she retorted as she shook her head at him.

“Hm… I think you were too focused below my waist this morning to notice how messed up my hair actually was,” he replied with a devious grin.

Her eyes opened in surprise before he laughed again, causing her to shove him with her foot once more. 

“Hey, you’re going to give me a bruise,” he teased as he rubbed his thigh where she’d been pushing on him. 

“Well then stop getting yourself in trouble,” she countered as she shook her head at him. “I could grab Mister Sparky if you’d rather.”

Logan gave her an affronted look. “Here I brought you breakfast in bed, and now you’re threatening to tazer me?”

“I suppose I’ll give you a pass… this time,” she replied with a coy smile. “It’s not every day that I get served breakfast in bed.”

“Play your cards right, and maybe you’ll get lucky two days in row,” Logan commented with a sly wink as he reached out and squeezed her foot that she’d been pushing into his thigh.

Veronica gave him a shy smile as she looked down at her coffee mug. She tried to squelch thoughts of other connotations of that phrase. 

“I um… I should go and check on the fire,” Logan muttered before he stood up rather abruptly and headed for the door. 

“Are you… coming back?” Veronica asked, suddenly sensing uneasiness from Logan and unsure why.

“Did you need something else?” he asked as he glanced over his shoulder at her. She could tell from his expression that he suddenly seemed a bit uncomfortable and she wasn’t sure why. She shook her head and gave him a small smile. She hated to feel like he was running away from her, but that totally felt like what he was doing now. 

“I should probably get up and go use the shower too. Can you point me in the right direction once I get my stuff together?”

“Of course,” Logan answered as he nodded and left the tent. 

Logan escorted her over to the pay showers at the resort next door, but then he’d immediately excused himself, explaining that he should get back to camp to get things put away before they left to go serve her papers. Veronica kept replaying the morning in her head up to when he’d bolted from the tent and couldn’t figure out if it was something that she had unintentionally done that had made him seem to now be more reserved around her. She tried to tell herself that she was maybe just imagining it, but he did seem a bit more distant than he’d seemed when she’d woken up.  

Once they were on the road, Logan did at least ask her how she’d gotten into serving papers, since she hadn’t been doing that before. Veronica shared with him how Cliff had a friend who ran an agency that provided that service, and when he’d hit several dead ends while tracking someone down, Cliff sent him to Veronica. The guy had been so impressed by her skills that he’d kept contacting her for difficult cases. Best of all, he would usually give her a pretty nice bonus if she was able to come through for him. Of course her dad seemed to approve of that work more than some of the other cases she’d taken on since serving papers didn’t come with the types of risks she’d dealt with before. She entertained him with a few of her more interesting deliveries as they drove along. 

It took a while, but they finally arrived where  the woman she needed to serve papers was supposedly staying. It was a vacation home owned by her great aunt, who apparently rarely used it. But, Veronica hoped that it hadn’t been a coincident that the electricity had turned back on at about the same time as the woman had left Neptune without a forwarding address. The property was far enough away from town to seem slightly remote, but there were still neighbors within walking distances from the place, so it wouldn’t seem too suspicious to have people around. Veronica pointed to a spot where Logan could pull off and park the Range Rover. The driveway to the house had a gate at the end of it which was closed with a heavy chain and padlock preventing anyone from opening it.

“Um… I’m guessing your recipient doesn’t really want visitors,” Logan commented as he pointed at the padlock after they had climbed out of the SUV. 

“Oh well… too bad for her,” Veronica commented as she continued toward the gate.

“You’re not going to pick the lock are you?” Logan asked with a slightly concerned look on his face. 

Veronica chuckled and shook her head. “I think climbing over it would be a lot quicker.” She commented, drawing a disapproving frown from Logan. “What?” she asked innocently. “There aren’t any ‘No Trespassing’ signs. It’s fine. Besides… we need to go and find my lost dog,” Veronica added as she pulled a dog leash out of her shoulder bag.

Logan quirked an eyebrow at her but he didn’t really seem that surprised. 

“You can wait here if you want,” Veronica told him as she headed toward the gate.

“Not a chance, Mars,” Logan replied as he followed behind her. “Who’s going to protect you from her attack pygmy goats,” he added as a small goat ran out of a bush, heading up the driveway away from them. 

Veronica laughed and shook her head. “Yeah, he looked really ferocious.”

“You never know... he might be going to get his buddies to form an entire goat army to attack and defend their homestead.”

Veronica kept chuckling as she carefully climbed over the fence and then waited for Logan to join her. 

“Um… it might look less suspicious if we look more like a couple,” Veronica suggested a little hesitantly as Logan finished climbing over the gate and stopped next to her. He nodded in understanding, appearing ready to follow her lead. She held up her hand for him to take. “Ready to go find Chester?” she asked as she held up and shook the leash that was in her other hand. 

“I’m sure Mandy would be touched that you used her as inspiration,” Logan commented with a sentimental smile. Veronica quirked her eyebrow in surprise. She hadn’t expected him to realize where she’d gotten the name from. Apparently, he could easily interpret her reaction. “I paid attention to things… even if you didn’t think that I did,” Logan admitted shyly. He smiled a bit more confidently as he reached out and took her hand. “Let’s go find our missing  _ Chester _ .”

The trees on the property blocked their view of the house from the road, but they didn’t have to walk far up the driveway before they spotted it. They kept up the charade of looking for their dog, calling out his name and whistling as they walked toward the house. Veronica spotted the goat again that had run out of the bushes by the road. He was standing near the corner of the large attached porch on the front of the house. As they got a bit closer, he made a loud bleating sound and then skirted around the side of the house, disappearing again.

“I’m sure he’s going for reinforcements now,” Logan whispered as he bent his head toward Veronica’s. She chuckled and shook her head at him.

A minute later, a woman came out from behind the house where the goat had disappeared to. Veronica instantly recognized her as Andrea Dawson, the woman whom she needed to serve the papers to. Andrea gave them a slightly concerned look as she walked a bit closer to them. 

“Can I help you with something?” Andrea asked as she looked suspiciously between the two of them. 

Veronica decided at this point, the dog charade wasn’t really necessary anymore. She gave Andrea a tight smile and pulled the envelope from her shoulder bag. “These are for you, Andrea Dawson,” Veronica said as she held out the envelope.

The woman at least didn’t get as angry as some of the other unlucky individuals that Veronica had served over the past few months. Andrea nodded and took the envelope from her. She even had a trace of an amused grin on her face. “He’s such a jackass… but I can’t say I’m surprised that he have the gall to do this.”

Veronica gave her an understanding look and shrugged her shoulders. “I just deliver the papers… sorry about whatever mess that’s related to.” 

Andrea smiled and nodded. “Well at least it taught me to have better judgment about people,” she added as she turned to head toward the porch.

Veronica gave Logan a half-smile before they turned to head back to the main road. Veronica had done a little research to be able to find Andrea and knew that the papers were for breach of contract. She’d found out the guy suing Andrea had been romantically involved with her and then things went south. Andrea had owned a coffee kiosk and sold it to a close friend of hers while the guy claimed she’d promised to give it to him. The friend had quite a few unflattering things to say about the guy, but she was also the reason Veronica found out about the great aunt’s property. Given what Veronica had learned about the case, she was pretty sure Andrea would be able to win, but it was only Veronica’s job to deliver the papers and not care or get involved with the actual cases. Sometimes that was certainly harder to stick to though.

It only took them a few minutes to walk back to the gate. Unfortunately, once Veronica had dropped Logan’s hand to pull out the envelope, she didn’t really have a good excuse to take it again. She had noticed Logan’s silence on the way back to the gate, which made her start to wonder what was going on with them again. It may have been because she was distracted by all the scenarios and questions in her head, but for whatever reason, right after she made it back over the gate, she tripped on a branch and ungracefully ended up flat on the ground.

“Shit, Veronica. Are you okay?” she heard Logan ask as he scrambled over the gate and landed with a thump near her. 

“Yeah… just clumsy, apparently,” Veronica replied as she pushed herself up to try to stand again. She’d barely even started to move when Logan wrapped an arm around her waist and helped her stand up. A second later he scooped her up off her feet completely. “Logan, I’m fine,” she protested weakly, although she could definitely feel the burning sensation from her knee that took the brunt of the fall. 

Logan sat her on a large boulder that was between the gate and the Range Rover. “You’re bleeding,” Logan pointed out as he looked down at her knee with a frown. “Just wait here and let me get the first-aid kit from the car.”

Veronica let out a sigh and nodded. Less than a minute later, Logan was back with a white plastic box. He knelt down next to her and opened it. She watched with fascination as he dug out some antiseptic spray and gauze. She was actually a little surprised that he had a first-aid kit in the car, and now that she’d seen it, was surprised at how extensive of a kit it was. 

“Ouch, that stings,” she protested as he sprayed the antiseptic on her knee. 

“Cowboy up, Mars,” he replied with a small smirk. He carefully cleaned off the blood and studied the wound before finally putting a large bandage over it. 

The small smirk that had been on his face a moment before was gone as he looked up and frowned at her. “Did you hit your head too?” he asked as he carefully reached up and pushed some hair back from her forehead. Feeling his warm fingers graze gently across her skin made her stomach quiver. 

“What?” she replied, so lost in thinking about his touch that she wasn’t sure what he’d asked.  

“Your head,” he continued as he frowned up at the spot he was focused on on her forehead. “Did you hit it too when you fell?”

“Maybe a little,” she replied, realizing it was starting to feel a little sore up there now too. 

“Well, you’ve got a small gash up here too,” he told her as he reached for a new piece of gauze and the spray. This time he sprayed the liquid on the gauze, likely so he wouldn’t get it in her eyes, and started to gently rub the spot. He used his other hand to cup the side of her cheek and then tilted her head to a slightly different angle. 

She couldn’t help the soft sigh that slipped out from the feel of his hand on her face. His eyes locked with hers for a second and his thumb gently caressed her skin for only a moment before he pulled both hands away. 

“Sorry… I’ll get another bandage,” he mumbled as he looked toward the first-aid kit again. 

Veronica really couldn’t stand it anymore and reached out to take his hand, pulling his attention back to her. “What’s wrong?” she asked with a vulnerable tone. He watched her warily, but didn’t respond. “You’ve been acting differently since... I don’t know… this morning… one minute you were…  _ you _ ... and then… you weren’t,” she babbled, realizing that really didn’t make any sense, but she really had no idea how to describe the change in his behavior compared to the night before and earlier that morning.

Logan let out a shaky breath but didn’t pull his hand away from hers. “I um…” he paused and closed his eyes for a minute before he opened them again and looked almost afraid of her, or maybe just the reaction she was going to have. “This morning… the way you looked at me for a moment… I just…” He paused and shook his head, obviously having a difficult time explaining this to her. He took a deep breath before he quickly rambled out the rest. “I really wanted to kiss you,” he admitted and then looked down at their hands instead of up at her face. 

A relieved smile formed on Veronica’s lips, although he was still looking down so he couldn’t see it. “What’s so bad about that?” she asked with a wistful tone. 

It must have take a second for Logan to completely process what she’d said, but then he looked back up at her. She could tell he was still feeling unsure of everything and maybe even a little vulnerable too. She certainly couldn’t blame him with everything they’d been through. He let go of her hand and slowly reached back up to cup her cheek. He was watching her carefully as he stroked his thumb across her jawline. She gave him a reassuring smile as she reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him closer to her. He braced his other hand on the boulder, and then he leaned in toward her until their noses were touching. She gently nudged his nose with hers as she kept smiling demurely at him. He finally moved a little bit more so that he could press a soft kiss to her lips, keeping his eyes open as he watched her reaction. She smiled more and placed a few chaste kisses on his lips as well, nuzzling her nose a bit more against his. She could see his eyelids start to close and heard him take a deeper breath before he shifted his hand from her cheek toward the back of her head so he could tilt her head slightly to kiss her more deeply.  

“See… nothing bad about that,” Veronica teased softly when their lips finally separated, his forehead resting against hers. He laughed quietly and nodded before placing another soft kiss on her lips.

“You still need a bandage,” he told her as he leaned away and gave her a small smile. She nodded in agreement and let go of his shirt that she was still tightly gripping so that he could lean over to reach the first-aid kit again. 

He carefully placed the band-aid on her forehead, giving her a slightly wary smile as his thumb caressed her cheek. “Thanks,” she said with an affectionate smile. She bit on her lower lip for a minute and then inhaled a deep breath before she continued. “I really wanted to kiss you last night too,” she confessed, hoping that might put his mind a bit more at ease since he still looked so vulnerable to her. He raised one eyebrow in a questioning way and she nodded to reassure him that she was telling him the truth. He smiled a bit more and she could tell he seemed like he was feeling a bit more relaxed. “But I wasn’t sure if that’s what you’d want,” she admitted, surprising herself with her honesty.

Logan’s smile grew even larger and his hand moved so that his thumb was tracing down her jaw toward her chin. “I can’t imagine ever not wanting you to kiss me, Veronica,” he reassured her as he looked at her with one of his intense heated gazes that always turned her insides to mush.

“You may think differently when I have terrible morning breath,” she replied with a teasing smirk, trying not to get lost in his soulful brown eyes.

“Doubtful… but I’ve always been a risk taker.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she answered coyly.

“Good,” he replied, still running his thumb slowly along her jawline as he stared intently at her. 

“ _ Very _ good,” she added in a breathy whisper, breaking eye contact with him to stare down at his lips instead. His smile quirked up a bit more on one side before he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers again. This time he was balanced better and placed both hands on the side of her face, slowly moving them into her hair and caressing her head gently.  

“Very good, indeed,” he commented when he finally pulled his mouth away from hers. 

“Mm hmmm…” was all she could manage to get out as she caught her breath. Logan always had been a fantastic kisser; just one of his many talents that she’d missed. 

He was still looking at her intently, but was smiling a bit more than he had been before they kissed. He’d pulled his hands back down from her face and sat up straight so he could see her better again. “So... shall we get back to the lake? We could even check out Ducey’s for some lunch if you’re game... of course if you can spare time from studying for that.” 

“Do you even have to ask? Of course I can spare time on a Saturday afternoon for food!”

“Well I hope you can spare some time later for more than just food and studying,” he commented with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows. Veronica gave him a semi-serious questioning look. “So we can play more Garbage, of course,” he continued changing his expression to appear completely innocent.

“ _ Right… _ ” she replied with a smug grin as she nodded slowly.

Logan stood up and reached out his hand to help pull her up from the boulder. She gave him a grateful look as she let him pull her up from where she was sitting. Instead of letting go, they shifted their hands so they could lock their fingers together as they walked the short distance back to the SUV. It had felt good holding his hand before as they had walked up to find Andrea’s house, but now it felt different somehow, almost electric. As they reached the SUV, she stepped to stand in front of the back door so he could open the passenger door for her. While he seemed more relaxed than he had been before, she could still sense that just a little bit of hesitation remained. Back when they were dating he wouldn’t think twice about leaning in and kissing her anytime he felt like it, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he was still a bit unsure about how far to go now. They should probably talk about what all this meant, but she didn’t really think this was the place for that. Instead of saying anything, she reached up and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, pulling him down toward her. He didn’t need anymore encouragement to kiss her again.

“I should probably be sure you didn’t hit your head harder than I thought… and are actually delirious and not realizing what you’re doing right now…” he commented when they broke apart again, but then he paused and gave her a sly grin. “But I’m enjoying it way too much to do that…”

“I promise I know  _ exactly  _ what I’m doing,” Veronica replied with light-hearted amusement. 

He smiled and reached up to lightly trace next to the bandage on her forehead, being careful not to actually touch where the cut was. “Good… because I’d hate to have you come to your senses later and change your mind about this…” he looked at her a bit more seriously before he continued. “Whatever  _ this _ is.”

“I think  _ this  _ could be a fresh start… if that’s what you want it to be.”

Logan smiled tenderly at her and nodded. “More than anything, Veronica.”

“Me too,” was all she was able to say before he pressed his lips to hers once more. 

They didn’t talk a lot on the way back to the lake, but everytime Veronica glanced over at Logan, he had the same elated grin on his face. She found it hard to keep a similar smile off her own face as he rested his right hand on her thigh and she intertwined her fingers with his. The little bit of talking that they did end up doing centered around the classes they were taking. After her comment about this being a fresh start for them, neither broached the subject of exactly what that might entail during their drive. She hadn’t let herself really consider what starting over with Logan might be like since coming back from Virginia because of the way he’d been acting around her. At last not until Mac’s comments the night before they left. She knew trust and honesty had been things that had caused issues in the past for them as well as not always communicating well with each other. Now that she realized what she risked losing, she was more determined than ever to work harder if things got tough again. It was still difficult for her to verbalize all of that to him, though, at least not this soon.

By the time they reached Ducey’s Veronica was starving. Her stomach had made a loud rumbling sound when they were still fifteen minutes away, and even though Logan had initially teased her about it, he had offered to stop and get something out of the back for her to snack on. She’d declined though, assuring him that she’d be able to survive another fifteen minutes. He’d countered with a flirtatious grin that he’d hate to have her die of starvation when they’d just agreed to a fresh start. 

After Logan parked, he was quick to meet Veronica on the passenger side. She’d already climbed out as well, and after closing her door, wrapped her arm around his waist. He immediately placed his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick kiss on the temple before they walked up to the entrance for the restaurant. Given how long the trip out to serve papers had been, they were arriving a bit later than the normal lunch time, so the restaurant wasn’t terribly busy and they were able to get a table with a fantastic view of the lake. As Logan pulled out a chair for Veronica, she gave him a curious look, not able to remember him being quite so formal with her before. He just smiled and shrugged before he helped her push her chair up to the table. 

“What? I can be a gentleman,” he whispered into her ear before placing a kiss on her cheek and taking the chair next to hers.   

“I never said that you couldn’t…” she replied with a coy smile. “And I do appreciate it,” she added before leaning toward him and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. 

He grinned at her as she pulled away. “I can assure you there are plenty of  _ ungentlemanly  _ things bouncing around my brain too,”  

“That sounds about right,” she replied with a smirk. He gave her a quick wink before he picked up his menu and started looking at their options. 

Veronica picked up her own menu and alternated between glancing at it and Logan. It was nice to see him looking so relaxed and happy again. “I’ll be sure to stay away from the shrimp and clams,” she commented as she spotted those options on the menu.    

Logan grinned and gave her grateful look. “I do appreciate that… although if you’re having any second thoughts about this fresh start idea… well that would certainly be one way to get rid of me.”

She gave him a thoughtful look and tapped her chin with her finger. “Hmmm… nah… think I’ll keep you around for a while… definitely don’t want to have to drive back to Neptune all alone,” she told him with a sly grin. 

“And don’t forget you may still need to use me as bear bait… so you’re able to escape, you know.”

“Right… I’d almost forgotten about that… you really are quite useful… and versatile.”

“Don’t forget limber and persevering,” he added with a lascivious grin.

Veronica bit on her lower lip. “Oh… trust me… I remember,” she replied feeling her cheeks blush slightly.

“See…” he started with a defeated sigh, though he still had a small smile on his face. “Too many  _ ungentlemanly  _ things bouncing around in here too.”

“I choose to look at it more as a well-rounded personality,” she told him as she reached under the table to gently squeeze his leg right above his knee. She leaned a bit closer to him before she continued in a hushed conspiratorial tone. “And being a perfect gentleman all the time would be terribly boring.”

“Well, we certainly can’t have Veronica Mars be bored, now can we?”

She smiled suggestively and shook her head at him. A moment later, her stomach rumbled loudly again and Logan chuckled as he shook his head at her.

“We also can’t have her starving either,” he added with a teasing smirk.

She rolled her eyes slightly and went back to perusing her menu. 

The waitress showed up a few minutes later and Veronica ordered the Healthy Hog sandwich, earning a smug grin from Logan. The pulled pork with garlic aioli and BBQ sauce sounded delicious regardless of the name. Logan ordered the Flyin Hawaiian. She’d also considered trying that sandwich which was a grilled chicken breast with mango-pineapple compote, garlic aioli and teriyaki sauce, so she was happy that she’d likely be able to at least steal a few bites of it away from him. Since she’d ordered garlic fries with hers, she was certain that he’d chosen the onion rings with his so they could both have a little of each. She couldn’t help but remember a couple annoyed glances when she was dating Piz and tried to snag something that he’d ordered that she hadn’t. She and Logan may have teased each other about stealing each other’s food, but they had never been serious about caring. Just one of the many little things she’d missed about him after they broke up.    

The portions were large and the food was delicious, so they were both stuffed by the time they left Ducey’s. Since their campsite was on the other side of the lake, it did take some time for them to drive all the way back around. When they finally made it back to the camp, Veronica let out a huge yawn as she climbed out of the Range Rover. Logan gave her a questioning look as he walked around and joined her. 

“A power nap might be a good idea before you start studying,” he suggested with a sly grin. “You know you’ll end up dozing off reading if it’s not a very interesting topic,” he added as he reached up and tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. 

“I need to read a couple chapters for my Federal Litigation class,” Veronica replied with a sigh. “I’ve been putting it off because I fell asleep the last time I tried reading it.” 

Logan gave her a wicked smile while he took her hand and lead her toward the tent. “Power nap it is then,” he said as he unzipped the tent and gestured with his arm for to enter.

Once they were in the tent she scrunched her face up as she stared at the two sleeping bags on the air-mattress. When Logan had initially suggested a nap, snuggling up with him was the first thing that came to mind, but she hadn’t thought about the logistics of two sleeping bags and an air-mattress. She guessed they could just lay on top of them, but it wasn’t quite what she’d had in mind. As if Logan could read her mind, he gave her a small grin before he grabbed his sleeping bag and unzipped it completely so that the soft side could be face up on the entire air-mattress, He knelt down to straighten it all out, putting her folded up sleeping bag on the floor next to the bed and adjusting the pillows so they could use them again.

“Better?” he asked as he grinned up at her. She nodded and climbed on to the air-mattress, pulling him along with her. 

Their lips immediately found the other’s, with slow sensual kisses following that. They both ended up stretched out on the air-mattress, lying on their sides facing each other. One of Logan’s large hands was threaded up into her hair and the other one was wrapped around her waist, his warm fingers gently caressing her bare back just under the edge of her shirt. Veronica’s hands were exploring his chest and running up his neck to stroke the hair at the nape of his neck. Since lying on her side was a bit uncomfortable, Veronica rolled onto her back, pulling him along with her. 

“I thought we were taking a nap,” Logan asked a few minutes after she’d repositioned them, his voice husky and breathless. She smiled demurely up at him and shrugged. 

“Are  _ you  _ sleepy?” she asked coyly while languidly running her fingers up into his hair and gently massaging his scalp. 

He shook his head as he stared at her with lust-filled eyes. She knew that look; the one that made her own pulse quicken and sent a tinge of excited anticipation through her. He softly bumped his nose into hers before they started kissing again. One of his arms was braced near her head so he wouldn’t crush her. His fingers were tangled in her hair while his thumb gently stroked her cheek. His other hand that had been positioned at her waist before had slid lower down her hip, caressing her thigh and then moving under her as she arched up slightly toward him. She could feel his breathing getting more labored as their bodies pressed tightly together. 

She reached down and tugged on the edge of his shirt, pulling it toward his head and felt his body start to move away from hers. She assumed it was to help her remove his shirt, but instead his hand fell on hers, stopping his shirt from moving any farther. 

“Maybe this…  _ fresh start…  _ maybe we should go slower this time?” he asked with uncertainty evident in his tone. 

She cocked her head at him with a slightly incredulous expression. She was about to object, but then she realized there wasn’t just uncertainty lacing Logan’s tone, but something else was there in his expression too that she couldn’t quite decipher. She bit on her lip and reached up to stroke his cheek, still studying him carefully. He let out a sigh as he closed his eyes and dropped his head so their foreheads were touching again.

“I don’t want to screw this up again, Veronica,” he whispered quietly. “And I don’t know… I’m afraid if we do it exactly the same it will end the same. I want to be sure you know how much you mean to me… and the physical part… that’s not the most important part for me… you mean so much more to me than that.” He opened his eyes and lifted his head so he could see her face again.  

She wasn’t sure exactly what to say to that, but she also didn’t want things to not work this time either. She smiled tenderly at him and softly caressed his cheek again. “I think things are already very different this time… I know now how devastating it is to lose you and I don’t intend to go through that again.” She paused and then gave him a broader smile before she continued. “But now I’m worried that the end of days might really be upon us if  _ you’re  _ the one suggesting abstinence.” He chuckled and nodded his head in agreement. She smirked a bit more and then spoke again in a sultry voice. “It would be a shame for the world to end, though, and not get to be together again, wouldn’t you say?”

Logan let out an amused huff before he spoke again. “You do make a very valid point,” he replied as his lips turned up into a salacious grin. 

She bit on her bottom lip again and stared intently into his eyes. “I’ve missed you…” she told him with a genuine heartfelt look on her face. “So much, Logan.” 

His expression became more somber as he nodded and leaned in and kissed her deeply. “I’ve missed you too,” he whispered against her lips between kisses. 

“I don’t want to wait,” she confessed sounding breathless and desperate. “But if you want to… we can…”

Logan took a deep shaky breath as he looked longingly at her.  “It sounded like a good plan in my head,” he admitted with a faint smile. “But having you here with me… knowing you don’t really want to wait… I think other parts of my anatomy are in strong disagreement with my brain.”

“Hm…” Veronica placed her fingers on his lips. “Do your lips disagree with your suggestion?” He nodded and kissed the tips of her fingers. She smiled and moved so she could suck lightly on his neck. “And your neck?”

“Mm… hm…” he moaned out as she smiled against his skin. 

She reached down for the edge of his shirt again and this time he helped her pull it over his head. She ran both hands across his firm chest before placing a slow tender kiss on his chest above his heart.    

“And your heart?”

“Always belongs to you…” he mumbled before placing a kiss on top of her head. She smiled against his chest and kissed him there again. She leaned back so she could pull her own shirt off and then she took his hand and placed it above her heart. 

“And mine to you,” she said with a loving smile on her face. 

He took a deep breath and then leaned down so he could kiss her on top of her heart as well. She sucked in a sharp breath and arched her back slightly. His fingers had moved to her side so he could kiss her and she felt his thumb lightly brush along the side of her breast over the top of her lace bra, sending shivers through her body. She let out a soft moan as his mouth moved lower, his tongue and teeth teasing her through the lace fabric. She scraped her nails against his scalp and arched her back even more. 

“Please tell me you have condoms?” Veronica whimpered as Logan’s head moved to her other breast, his hand gently massaging the one he just released from his warm, wet mouth. She heard him groan and then felt him nodding his head against her chest. She probably should have asked that before they had even gotten this far and she was extremely relieved by his answer. After lavishing a good amount of attention on both breasts, he started placing slow, wet kisses up her chest and her neck until he finally moved his head back up to kiss her passionately. 

“I can tell what  _ this  _ part of your anatomy thought of your brain’s plan,” she whispered salaciously into his ear as her hand palmed him through the front of his cargo shorts.

“Oh God, Veronica,” Logan groaned as his hips thrust slightly against her hand, causing her to smile and then bite down gently on his neck below his ear which made him groan even louder.

She was about to unbutton his shorts when something brushed up against the side of the tent, followed by a loud bark. They both jolted and then froze for a moment, the only sound for a few seconds was their labored breathing. The dog barked again and then they heard what sounded like a young girl’s voice yelling, ‘No Daffodil, No!’ followed by, ‘Come here, Daffodil’ and clapping hands. The dog brushed up against the tent again and then they heard the voice praise Daffodil for coming back. 

“Um… maybe this wasn’t such a great idea in the middle of a campsite in the middle of the afternoon,” Veronica mumbled, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. Even though no one could actually see them in the tent, nylon wasn’t much of a sound barrier. Logan buried his face against her neck and nodded as he let out a slow deep breath. After a moment he picked his head up and gave her a grim smile. “Sorry...” she whispered as she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair.

“No apology necessary,” he replied and kissed her tenderly on the nose. “So about that nap…” he murmured as he shifted more onto his side and pulled her snuggly against his chest. 

She exhaled slowly as his warm hands started gently caressing her back. The most important thing to her really was that they were giving this another shot. Like Logan told her earlier, sex wasn’t the most important part of what they’d had before, although it was a very enjoyable part, but they could certainly wait a while longer for that. She had to admit that just being there in his loving embrace again really was enough for now as she felt herself drift off to sleep.

Veronica woke up from her nap to the sound of barking once again. This time it was more persistent and higher pitched than the earlier barks from Daffodil. She let out a low growl and felt Logan chuckle against her. 

"Tent camping isn't always conducive to afternoon napping," he commented with an amused tone to his voice. 

"Or afternoon delights," Veronica added with a snort. 

Logan laughed a bit harder and then kissed her on the top of the head. Surprisingly the dog was still barking and they hadn't heard anyone telling it to stop. 

"Should we go see what's going on out there?" Veronica asked as she looked up at Logan with a questioning glance. Logan nodded and sat up to grab his shirt. Veronica did the same and a few moments later they left the tent.

A little pomeranian was a few feet away from their tent barking excitedly while unsuccessfully trying to climb up a tree trunk. “Hey there, little guy,” Logan said as he walked over toward it. It continued barking, paying very little attention to Logan or Veronica. Logan finally reached it and carefully grabbed ahold of his collar, which did seem to stop the barking for a few seconds at least. The dog quickly shifted its attention from whatever it was barking at in the tree to barking at Logan and Veronica, though. 

“I think I liked  _ Daffodil  _ better,” Logan commented with a chuckle. “Even if she was a cock blocker.”

Veronica snorted at that and shook her head at him. 

“Is this perhaps your lost  _ Chester _ ?” Logan asked with a smirk. 

“Oh no…  _ my  _ lost Chester is much better behaved,” Veronica commented as she grimaced at the excited dog. “No barking,” she finally said firmly, hoping maybe a command would make it stop. They both appeared to be shocked when it actually did stop barking. “Sit,” Veronica commanded next and the dog did as it was told. 

“Okay, maybe it is better behaved than I gave it credit for.”

Logan was glancing around the campground and gave her a puzzled look. “Well you’d think someone would be missing this little scamp, wouldn’t you?”

Veronica nodded in agreement,also looking around. She didn’t spot anyone nearby who seemed to be out looking for it, though. “I’ll grab the leash from my bag and then I guess we could walk around and see if any of the other campers know who it belongs to?” she suggested.

“Yeah… maybe the camp hosts might know as well,” Logan agreed as Veronica headed to the tent to grab the leash. 

When Veronica made it back out of the tent, she bent down to hook the dog on to the leash. It was now quietly standing by Logan. “Well it looks like he’s a boy at least,” Veronica commented as she stood back up. 

“Always solving mysteries,” Logan commented with a smirk. Veronica rolled her eyes as he reached out and took her hand. “Now to solve the mystery of where this little guy came from.”

They walked through the campground, asking a few other campers if they knew who owned the dog, without any success. They finally reached the campground host and Logan knocked on the RV door. Veronica told the dog to sit, and again he obeyed her command and sat right next to her. An older man opened the door and asked what he could help them with. 

“We found this little guy in our campsite and wondered if you might know who he belonged to,” Logan explained as he pointed to the little dog at the end of Veronica’s leash.  

“Did you get out of your yard again, Jasper?” the man asked the dog with a shake of his head. He turned his attention back to Logan and Veronica. “He belongs to the caretakers, Mr. and Mrs. Elkerton over at Camp Wishon Cove,” the man explained as he pointed in the opposite direction of the lake. Right past Miller’s Landing is Camp Wishon Cove. Jasper gets a bit too excited about chasing squirrels and sometimes ends up clear over here.”  

“I guess we could walk him home?” Logan asked as he looked at Veronica. 

She shrugged and nodded. 

The camp host gave them directions on how to find the caretaker’s cabin and they headed off to find it. 

“So we’ve gone from looking for an imaginary dog, to rescuing a real dog,” Logan pondered as they walked along the trail. “I forgot how exciting life could be hanging out with you,” he added as he bumped his shoulder into hers. 

Veronica laughed as they continued walking. “Yeah… you forgot what you were missing.”

Logan wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. “I never forgot what I was missing,” he told her before he placed a kiss on her temple. 

She beamed up at him and leaned in to give him a kiss on the lips, right as Jasper started barking loudly and bolted off into the bushes, yanking Veronica in that direction for a second before she caught her balance.

“No, Jasper!” Veronica yelled at the now excitedly barking dog.  

“Squirrel,” Logan said in an amused voice. Veronica shook her head at him as she pulled on the leash and then called Jasper’s name again. 

After a few more squirrel distractions, they finally made it to the caretaker’s cabin. They were about to knock when the door flew open and a worried older lady, whom Veronica assumed was Mrs. Elkerton, practically bumped into them.

“Jasper!” she exclaimed happily as she knelt down to the dog. “Oh, thank you!” Mrs. Elkerton said as she smiled up at Logan and Veronica. “I just got back from cleaning a couple of our cabins and realized he’d gotten out of the yard again. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you finding him and bringing him back.”

“Sure, no problem,” both Logan and Veronica told her in chorus, causing them all to chuckle.

After being thanked a few more times, they finally said their goodbyes to Jasper and Mrs. Elkerton and headed back toward their campsite. Logan suggested stopping at Miller’s Landing on their way back to get some ice cream, which Veronica happily agreed to.

“So… studying?” Logan asked when they walked back into their campsite hand in hand. 

Veronica let out a defeated sigh and shrugged. “Yeah… I suppose that’s the responsible thing to do…”

Logan chuckled and spun her toward him so he could pick her up. He sat her on the edge of the picnic table and then moved so that he was standing between her knees. He placed a quick kiss on her lips as his thumbs gently kneaded into her hips. “Maybe if you’re a  _ good  _ girl and do your homework, I could reward you with something later,” he suggested with a salacious smile.

Veronica looked at him inquisitively. “Hmm… really? What did you have in mind?” she asked coyly. 

Logan placed another kiss on her lips before he replied. “Hm… Natalie sent along spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread,” he teased with a little wink. Veronica’s eyes opened wider, causing Logan to chuckle. “I’ve always known the way to your heart is through here,” he said as he poked her slightly in the belly.  

Veronica laughed and shook her head as she wrapped her hands around his neck to pull him back closer to her. “Well that wasn’t  _ exactly  _ the reward I had in mind, but it does sound pretty good,” she commented as she smiled affectionately at him. “And what  _ reward  _ did you have in mind for being a  _ good  _ boy?”

“For you to  _ share  _ the spaghetti and garlic bread with me?” he volleyed back with a smirk. 

Veronica narrowed her eyes and gave him a faux offended glare. “If you’re insinuating I would actually eat it  _ all _ , I think you have a lot of work to go to reach good boy status.”

Logan chuckled at her before he moved his head so his lips were right against the shell of her ear. “I think you like a little bad boy every now and then anyway,” he whispered huskily, causing shivers to run through her body. 

“Mmmm… you may be right,” she purred as his mouth left hot wet kisses from below her ear all the way to her shoulder, but she forced herself to not get completely lost in his ministrations. “Did you happen to see one around here,  _ Mister Abstinence _ ?” she couldn’t help but tease.

Logan let out a huff of air before his forehead landed on her shoulder. She giggled and ran her fingers through his hair while she bumped his legs with her knees. He picked his head up a moment later and gave her a sheepish look.

“So you’re not planning on letting me forget that anytime soon?”

She grinned and shook her head. 

“I’ll have to work a bit harder to regain my bad boy status then,” he commented as his lips quirked up into a wicked grin.  

She bit on her lip and nodded. “Something to look forward to,” she replied coyly.

Logan took a deep breath and shook his head at her before leaning in and placing a slow, deep kiss on her lips. He took another deep breath as he stood up straight again. 

“As much as I’d rather distract you with  _ non-scholarly  _ activities…  I’d much rather you finished all your homework today, so when we get back to Neptune tomorrow I can invite you back to my place to work on properly regaining some of my  _ bad boy _ street cred in a location that isn’t quite so…”

“Exposed?” she offered. She could tell by his smile and answering nod that he agreed but probably wouldn’t mind a little  _ exposure  _ when they were back in the privacy of his room at the Grand. “Okay then…” she started as he took a step back and offered her his hand to jump down from the table.. “Studying it is.”

They decided to go study down by the lake. Logan grabbed a blanket out of the Range Rover and they found a nice shady spot to lay it out. Veronica tried to focus on her textbook but found herself frequently glancing over at Logan. He actually seemed to be focusing on his own reading, and she found it amusing that she was the one getting distracted. He finally glanced up and caught her watching him.

“How’s it going over there?” he asked with a quirked brow and a slightly amused grin. 

“The  _ scenery  _ is a bit distracting,” she commented slyly. 

“It is a beautiful lake, isn’t it,” he replied with a chuckle.  

“There’s a lake here?” she asked with a smirk. 

He laughed again as he closed his book and pulled her over so she could sit between his legs and rest her back against his chest. “Study break?” he asked as he placed a few kisses along her neck. 

She let out a soft sigh and nodded.  “I think we’ve both earned at least that,” she agreed.

After a short study-break/make-out-session, Logan suggested that they walk back up to the campground so that he could start getting everything ready for dinner while Veronica kept studying. Even though she was enjoying their time down by the lake, she wasn’t one to object to the promise of food. She tried not to get too distracted watching him get the fire all ready again once they got back, but it was still a bit surreal to be camping with him. Watching Logan was certainly more exciting than reading about federal litigation. He caught her a few times as he walked by her and would tap on one of the pages of her open book with a not very convincing scolding look on his face. She couldn’t help but chuckle and shake her head at him, but she would get back to reading when he did that. The promise of spending some quality alone time with him at the Grand when they got back was a pretty good motivator. She knew she could have just suggested heading back earlier, but she was really enjoying spending another day away from the real world with him and if it meant waiting a bit longer to fully reunite with him --  well, she decided the wait would be worth it. 

Logan had insisted on just working on the food by himself so she could keep reading. She’d offered her assistance several times, but he’d assured her he had it all under control. She was a little surprised how much effort Natalie must have put into getting all their meals set up for this trip. Even though at first she’d been extremely puzzled by Logan’s relationship with Mac’s family, the more he’d talked about it, she realized just how wonderful it was that they’d more or less made him an honorary member of their family. She was even more grateful about that fact when dinner was finally ready and she had her first bite of Natalie’s spaghetti sauce. Logan smirked as she let out a loud appreciative moan. 

“Better than Luigi’s?” he asked with an amused expression. Veronica nodded her agreement as she shoved another big forkful into her mouth. 

They ended up playing cards for a little while after they had cleaned up all their dinner dishes. Logan taught her how to play another game that the Mackenzie’s had taught him that was called Kings in the Corner that was really similar to a two-person solitaire game. 

When they were finished playing cards, Veronica helped Logan put everything away and waited to go into the tent with him instead of going in by herself like the night before. He’d been in the tent a couple times while she was studying, and at one point she’d heard what sounded like him zipping his sleeping bag back together. She had been a little disappointed, but realized with how chilly it did get at night, that it would be warmer bundled up in a zippered sleeping bag. She was pleasantly surprised when they finally did go into the tent, that he’d actually zipped both sleeping bags together. Now, instead of two smaller single ones, it combined into one larger one.

“I hope that’s okay,” Logan said as he gestured toward the bed once they made it inside. 

“Perfect,” she replied with a big smile as she lifted up on her toes to give him a kiss. 

“So… did you want me to close my eyes while you change?” Logan asked with a small smile after he’d turned and zipped the door shut. 

“It might be hard for you to help me get undressed that way,” Veronica countered with a smug grin. 

It was easy to tell from his expression that he wholeheartedly agreed with her assessment. It was quickly getting chillier, though, and as soon as he’d lifted her shirt off, she couldn’t help but shiver a bit. 

“You’d better get under the covers,” Logan suggested with a tender smile. “As much as I enjoy admiring your gorgeous body, I don’t want you to freeze to death.”  

She reluctantly agreed and grabbed a tank top and her yoga pants to slip on as she climbed into the sleeping bag.

“I forgot the tent has a  _ sunroof  _ of sorts… if you wanted to lay in bed and watch the stars for a little while,” Logan commented as he pointed up at the top of the tent. Veronica nodded and he quickly unzipped a flap, uncovering a screened opening that they could see the night sky and bright twinkling stars above them. 

He slipped out of his cargo shorts and climbed in next to her. She snuggled up next to him, immediately enjoying the warmth of his body next to hers. He placed a few tender kisses on her temple as they stared up at the beautiful night sky. 

“Was that a shooting star?” Veronica asked, absolutely shocked to see a twinkling light streak across the sky.    

“Yeah,” Logan replied with a soft sentimental tone to his voice. “Don’t forget to make a wish…”

Veronica leaned up on her elbow and smiled lovingly down at Logan. All she could think about was the wish Logan had already made. “I’d rather make  _ your  _ wishes come true,” she whispered before pressing her lips to his.

**_A/N - Thanks for reading everyone! I also wanted to thank one of my wonderful readers who sent me a couple options for a cover (although I still haven’t had a chance to try to put one on FF yet). I was actually trying to think of a name for the first dog at camp when I heard the email notification and used part of her user name for the dog. :) Thanks scratchydaffodil!_ **


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